The Apple
by SusanMcMovies
Summary: Probably one of the many stories where Lorelai Gilmore's pregnancy scare at the end of season 5 came out to be true. See what happens in her and Luke's life, when a baby is added to the mix. Future plans are discarded, certain experiences changed.
1. Chapter 1 If it's true

Chapter 1

"I might be pregnant" Lorelai admitted.

"Oh, so that's where this is coming from?" Rory replied astonished.

"I blame Mom she never sat me down for the talk, and Ms. Driscoll she had her chance too but all she ever talked about was golf" Lorelai frantically said getting long winded.

"How did this happen, I mean, if it's true" Rory asked.

Lorelai was terrified that it might be true. Not that she hadn't imagined a future with Luke. She'd had a fantasy going inside her head as she held one of her mother's wedding dress options in front of herself in the mirror. But, this much like the last time she'd been pregnant, it just wasn't the right time.

Sure she was an adult now, she was old-er than before. She could financially afford another child she was pretty sure. It wasn't like she was a maid living in a tool shed any more. And although her parents wouldn't be thrilled that she was once again pregnant out of wedlock, it's not like their naïve idea of her virtue was remotely intact any more. But she felt that no matter what age, a baby was terrifying.

What the hell would Luke feel about this? What would he say if she told him he was going to be a father. He hates kids! They annoy him almost more than she did (and that's pretty impressive). They had just gotten back together practically.

"Timing is just not my strong suit when it comes to relationships" she thought to herself. It had been that way with Christopher. And now it was that way with Luke. "This must happen most often when you actually love the person" she thought.

The apple. The apple craving terrified her. The doctor she'd asked advice from had only made her more conflicted. She had to wait two weeks to find out if this was for real? In twenty years they hadn't found a way to make the yes or no available sooner? What kind of gyp was that? She imagined a Luke rant could spur from that if he at all liked pregnancy and children.

She didn't know whether she would tell Luke before she was sure or after. Would scaring him only to find out she was wrong a good risk to take? Was telling him at all a risk she could take? If it was true, he'd find out eventually. If this pregnancy was anything like her last one, she'd be an elephant by month 5.

Since she had 2 weeks to find out if she was pregnant, she felt she had the right to wait that long to tell Luke. Any anxiety she felt in the next two weeks, she could tell Rory about. If this really was a false alarm, no one else really needed to know. Even in Stars Hollow a secret doesn't need to be fodder for the gossip mill.

"Even in Stars Hollow" she said under her breath.

*I'm keeping the first chapter short. I know that this probably wasn't enough of a story for anyone to decide if it is worth reading, but have some faith. More to come, I hope.*

-DD


	2. Chapter 2 A typical day

Chapter 2

Before Lorelai had even called Rory, with the help of Sookie and her mother (help that they were completely unaware of) the fear of pregnancy had grown to sheer terror. Sookie had noticed the apple consumption. Lorelai might not have even thought about it too hard if Sookie hadn't pointed it out.

"Jeeze, my friend with the biggest inability to pay attention noticed my behavior before I did" Lorelai rolled her eyes in thought. She loved Sookie, but for once she wished Sookie had remained clueless.

The apple question prompted Lorelai to ask Sookie about how she had realized she was pregnant. All she got from that is that both she and Sookie had discovered their pregnancies (if Lorelai even was) in a wacky way. Lorelai with her apple and Sookie with Norman Mailer.

When Emily called Lorelai about the magic 8 ball, Lorelai decided to take a risk and ask Emily how she knew she was pregnant back in 1968. Luckily she had the cover, "Oh I'm in the maternity ward with Sookie and I'm just curious."

"It actually was your grandmother who 'figured it out'" Emily replied. Lorelai could tell by her mother's tone on the last 3 words that Emily was rolling her eyes."

"Your mother?" Lorelai asked

"No, your father's mother" Emily replied in her patented aggravated tone. Apparently even after 36 years her mother was still mad about this. Only Emily Gilmore could hold a grudge this long.

"All she did was look at me and she knew. Or rather she accused." Emily said in a tone that Lorelai knew better than anyone was meant to not sound angry. "I came into the living room with a bowl of those nuts she loved so much and she pointed her bony ringed judgmental finger and said "You're pregnant!"

Lorelai didn't know what was funnier. The fact that the "Gran's special nuts" bit was older than she was, or that Lorelai the first really expressed zero tact on that one. It wasn't remotely condescending at all. Just blunt. Just. Completely. Blunt. So Gran.

"Wow, she just 'knew'" Lorelai asked.

"Yes. And to make matters worse your father sided with her." Emily responded.

"He did?" Lorelai just knew that really irked her mother.

Emily continued with her story. "He said, 'my goodness Trix, you must be psychic! Which made your grandmother reply, "I've always been spot on. A highly knowledgeable woman. That explains why your wife is so unaware of the obvious.' Which made your father reply, 'If you are right mother, no matter if it's a boy or a girl it will be named Lorelai!"

Lorelai burst out in laughter. "It's a good thing I came out a girl huh?'

"I would agree" Emily responded. "Anyway, thank you for relinquishing the beloved magic 8 ball. I will see you Friday for dinner."

"No problem" Lorelai said. Like a toy was really the biggest thing on her mind. But the dinner was a close second.

Whether it's a requirement or an obligation, going to The Gilmores for dinner was always dangerous. Depending on what had happened previous to any particular Friday Lorelai always knew to expect something to go wrong or be made awkward or annoying by the notorious Emily Gilmore. Sure her father wasn't blameless, definitely not blameless. But, Emily was the one who most often had Lorelai on her toes. She was either on her toes being watchful of whatever thing Emily might do, or if she was walking on tiptoe to avoid certain things. Basically, Lorelai's toes hurt.

"I might be pregnant" she told herself again. She might be pregnant and she also was about to show Emily her cover story where Emily was painted less than saint-like. Lorelai unintentionally made her mother seem demonic. She might be able to keep the possible pregnancy a secret, but there was no way to hide the magazine article from her. Why? Because Emily already knew about it. She regretfully wished she could blame Rory for telling her. But she knew that no matter if Rory had told Emily or not, it was only bad because of all the horrible things Lorelai shared with the interviewer.

Like her grandmother, Lorelai had a psychic moment. She knew that when her mother read the article she would flip. She wouldn't be Emily Gilmore if she didn't. To make matters worse her Russian ballerina Mikail took what the article said literally. Lorelai never thought she'd ever have to tell a Russian man that her mother was not Joseph Stalin.

But the tip of the iceberg, the cherry on top, came in a phone call from Rory. It was just a regular day for Lorelai. Find out you could be pregnant, avoid being murdered by your mother, explain to a Russian man your mother isn't a historical dictator, and then…have to pick up your angel daughter from jail.

"What has my world come to?" Lorelai asked herself allowed before getting out of her car, and walking into the Bridgeport Police department.


	3. Chapter 3 What kids?

Chapter 3

"Rory stole a yacht how's your night been?" Lorelai sarcastically asked Luke as the diner door slammed behind her.

"What?" Luke responded surprised yet still his usual monosyllabic.

Lorelai rambled but managed to explain to Luke mostly what happened. He immediately like she did blamed Logan for Rory doing something so stupid.

"Of all the stuff I've had to deal with today I don't know what's scarier. Rory getting arrested or…" Lorelai stopped talking hopefully just in time.

"What else happened today?" Luke asked knowing she just got back from her mother's house so it could be that.

"Uh, nothing . Just, stuff" Lorelai responded hoping he'd drop it.

That was close, too close. Even in her shocked state she knew she had to be careful what she said. "Great, now I'm on tiptoe with Luke too" she thought to herself, annoyed. If ever there was a time to tell Luke she might be expecting, this was both the worst and best time. Best because being honest with the father is the right thing to do. Worst because she didn't want to lose the love of her life the same night her daughter's future was going up in flames.

"Later is good" she told her self as she walked back to the car with the donuts.

The next day Lorelai did her best to be her usual funny self. She did a jail bit with Rory at breakfast in her best attempt to make a joke out of the situation. While she acted silly with Rory, she had a chance to be downright angry when Logan called the house. She did her best to play up the "I'm fine" routine at work. But, a visit from Luke shook some things up a bit.

She hadn't told Luke about the meeting with Mike Armstrong, and although she had no idea if she was even interested in the job offer she had a very difficult time calming Luke down.

"They could send you any where!" Luke hissed at her trying to explain how bad of an idea he felt the job was.

"Luke" Lorelai tried to get him to calm down.

"And then there's all that travel, there's travel right?" Luke asked her in a worried tone.

"Yes. No? What are you freaking out about?" She really had no idea what Luke's problem was.

"What about the kids!" Luke blurted without thinking.

Kids? Oh god, did he know? How could he know? Lorelai hoped pretending to not know what he was talking about would throw him off any assumption trail he was on.

"What kids?" she asked.

"Uh, nothing. Never mind, forget it. I'm gonna fix the window. " Luke said trying to salvage and attempt to save face.

"Luke?" Lorelai hoped to understand further what he meant

"Room 3, got it!" Luke ran off up the stairs.

"What does he know?" she wondered to herself. "What did he mean?"

And if she thought that wasn't difficult, her next conversation with Rory proved other wise. Rory wanted to drop out. She wanted to give up on her life long goal, her great college education, and her future. All because of Mitchum Huntzberger. If Lorelai ever got the chance, she'd kill that bastard.


	4. Chapter 4 Putting the plan in motion

Chapter 4

Lorelai knew so well that she felt stupid. Going to her parents for help always backfires. There's always a condition or a double cross. Strings or betrayals. But for some unknown god forsaken reason Lorelai always had her parents in her back pocket and used them at some point.

If anyone would disapprove more of a person dropping out of college, it would be Richard and Emily Gilmore. Even with the ups and downs she'd had with them over the years, they'd have to side with her on this one. How could they not? The Gilmore name was at stake. She flashed back to the last time she'd seen Gran alive where she'd said to the table, "How would it look if a Gilmore went out into the (business) world, and fails?" Rory was not going to get to drop out. No way.

She knew that she was double crossing Rory by doing this, she was performing a betrayal, she was a hypocrite. But, this was for Rory's own good. "God" she thought, "I'm turning into my mother." But that was a nauseating reality she'd have to swallow back for now. She was doing what she had to do. "I'm definitely turning into Mom."

She drove to The Gilmore mansion the morning after Rory dropped the bomb on her. She was gripping the wheel hard in anticipation and anxiety. She couldn't imagine any string her mother could create for this one, and a double cross didn't seem likely. But, having to tell them that their perfect granddaughter had not only committed a crime, but wanted to leave school for who knows how long, she was not looking forward to their reaction.

She had trouble convincing them at first that she was serious. Apparently past experience with her had led them not to take her seriously. "This must be one of you bits" Emily had said. Aside from 4 years ago when she'd joked that Rory had given up on Harvard and wanted to become a maid just like her mother, Lorelai had never joked about Rory's future, in front of her parents any way. But her sincerity eventually broke through to them. They were siding with her. That's what she needed.

When the conversation had reached an ending, her mother asked in concern, "Would you like something to eat?" And then she added, "Is there anything else you'd like to talk to us about."

While Lorelai appreciated her mother's care, she really didn't feel up to saying anything else. She was far too nauseated. She wasn't about to share with her distant parents. "Hey I might have a bun in the oven, the rustic diner owner is the father."

"No" Lorelai responded. "I just got everything I need."

*Again sorry these chapters are so short. I just don't want the chapters to be gruelingly long. I want my readers to be able to read this leisurely. I appreciate the reviews I've gotten so far. They have given me some confidence. And the fact that some of you have added this story to your alerts, that really touches me. Thank you so much. *

-DD


	5. Chapter 5 A sense of rationality

Chapter 5

There's no chance of a double cross? What was she thinking? They are Richard and Emily Gilmore! Of course they'd double cross her! That's all they know how to do.

Lorelai was incensed. Her parents chose to side with Rory, the one making terrible decisions. They'd not been nearly that understanding of Lorelai when she had been in a similar situation. Even now they weren't understanding of her. They said she was being irrational about this. Her? How is wanting her daughter to stay in school and not let a pompous jackass convince her she's not worth it so wrong?

"You'll understand that once you calm down and think about it rationally!" her father had said. "Hey." She thought, "I'm pregnant, who says I have to be rational?" She was even sure more of the pregnancy possibility now. But she knew it still wasn't safe to share that outside her head. But the rebellious teen version of her that she kept tied up deep inside, really wanted to lash out and tell her parents she was pregnant. Just to shock them. But she knew that wouldn't help her argument that she was the only rational one in this situation. "Logic is a bitch sometimes" she thought.

Before she left the Gilmore property, she went to the pool house hoping to talk to Rory herself. But she just couldn't do it. She was too hurt. She was used to being hurt by her parents. She'd been hurt by men. But Rory? Lorelai never thought she would ever in her life feel so much pain. She was too angry at her parents to try to focus on the fact that her mother might have felt the same way when Lorelai had ran away. If her mother knew what this was like, why would she let anyone else ever feel like this?

All Lorelai did was stare. She watched Rory unpack her belongings in the pool house, in her new life. Her parents were getting a second shot. "A new and improved Lorelai" Lorelai had called it just a few minutes before. She could just imagine being a salesperson in this situation.

"Oh, you'll like the new Lorelai model" she heard an impressive version of her voice in her head. "This one is a college drop out, has never been pregnant, and her situation is far easier to disguise as something far less family name damaging." She knew she'd chuckle about this later, but right now no laugh could break through her stone cold expression. She and Rory exchanged looks for a moment. Rory looked away first. "She's looking away from her future" Lorelai thought.

Lorelai took the long way home from Hartford. She wanted as much time as possible to be alone, before going back to Stars Hollow where somehow everyone would know what happened within an hour. When she got back to Stars Hollow she went right to Luke's. He was the only one she wanted to see right now. She knew he was on her side. She needed him.

Although she knew he was on her side, the reaction she got from him when she told him what happened with Rory, blew her away.

"I know you think you have this thing handled, but I can help" Luke told her looking down at his hands planning in his head how to word what he was going to say. "First off, we call Yale, and we tell them something like, 'Rory had a chemical imbalance, and she was medically out of her mind' when she told them she was dropping out. Then we get her out of your parents' house whatever way we can, we lock her up in her room with you because you can talk her into this. You can talk anybody into anything."

Lorelai knew in her head that what he was saying was a bit over kill and a little silly, but her heart was incredibly touched. Luke continued to divulge his plan, to Lorelai's pleasure.

"Then if worse comes to worst, we will drive her to school every day, and we will follow her to class and camp out there to make sure she goes. I'll take morning classes, you take afternoon classes, or the other way around if it works out better for your schedule."

Her schedule? He was putting her first. His description of his plan so far had told her that they were both involved in this, but he'd be leaving her in charge. Her sweet smile turned to a look of discovery as he continued the end of his plan.

"And I know there's a few kinks to work out, and the kidnapping might be problematic, but either way, she is not quitting school. This was her dream. I am not gonna let this happen."

In about one second, this thought came to her mind, "He sounds like a father, I love that. I love him."

"What?" Luke asked her. Swallowing beforehand, Lorelai asked him a question.

"Luke, will you marry me?"


	6. Chapter 6 Booze and Babies

Chapter 6

"What?" was all Luke could say. Leave it to Luke, the "great communicator" to have that be the first thing he says. If Babette had been there she would have slapped his shoulder and would have said, "Say yes, not what."

Lorelai decided to repeat herself, "Luke, will you…"

"Yes" he interrupted her.

"Well you don't have to answer so….."

"Yes" 

"Well you can take a minute to….."

"No."

"Spit fire dialogue" she thought. But she remembered he wasn't called monosyllabic man for nothing.

Both of them were blown away by this. They didn't really know what to say. Both playing it by ear, they decided to do what they thought was customary of a recently engaged couple. They decided to toast the moment. But of course like any comedy which Lorelai thoroughly believed her life was, there was nothing in the diner toastable. Which lead them to venture out into the town. Walking among the remaining people awake, the first people who could hear their great news.

Living in a small town gave the couple limited places to shop for a toastable liquid substance that they could both enjoy. If weren't for their alcohol-less dilemma, Taylor would not have been the first townsperson to hear their great news. Boy were Patty and Babette going to be pissed.

"You are?" Taylor said surprised, forgetting his recently tired state and desire to just get them away from his doorstep.

"As of just a few minutes ago" Lorelai told him.

And of course since he was Taylor, he had to say something slightly snide before congratulating them. Which was soon followed by a piece of judgment when he found out about the couple's desperation for some booze. At the promise of some extra cash Taylor let them in and helped them to find what they desired. He even bless his heart took the tax off the Zima they purchased. "How….sweet?" Luke thought yet questioned. Lorelai was too excited by the prospect of the drink to comment on it.

Off to the town gazebo they went to finally toast the moment. Lorelai excited for the sentimental memory they would be creating at that moment, Luke amazed that they'd finally done it but slightly distracted by the lack of dignity in drinking "chick beer." They clinked their bottles, and did what they also thought was customary of a newly engaged couple. They kissed. It was far more romantic than shaking on it. This was the sweetest deal the two of them would ever make.

Later that night Lorelai lay in Luke's bed relaxed and satisfied. Her previous worries gone for now. Luke sat up twiddling his thumbs in contemplation. Unbeknownst to Lorelai he'd been working on acquiring them a house. He'd had plans to propose himself. Although she'd beaten him to it and the deal was done, he felt he had to say something. He had to let her know that this wasn't random.

He rambled on about what he'd meant when he said, "our kids." He told her about the Twickham house and his plans for it. She was close to falling asleep so she really didn't say much about it. Until, what he said made it through the barriers that was her almost sleeping mind.

She had a Jackson Belleville moment. Except it didn't take her a week for what Luke said to sink in.

You bought a house without telling me?" she asked him while getting out of her relaxed position. "A house? A house is huge!"

"Yeah I know it's why I told you" Luke told her sitting up as well.

"A house full of kids?" She asked, confused in her tired state.

"And a plant, don't forget the plant" Luke said to be sure Lorelai knew 'both their options.'

"Please don't do that, okay? I-I mean any other address of life changing decisions, please include me in!"

"I will. I am. I'm sorry. I won't. I will? " he said trying to calm and convince her. They gave each other one last look and got back into sleeping positions.

"And I hope you're sure you want a kid because you probably don't have a choice right now" Lorelai told him closing her eyes and resting her head back on the pillow.

"Why?" he asked lying back down as well.

Oh God. She'd done it. She'd finally gone too far in her unaware speech. She'd let slip something she could not disguise or make him forget. Luke was slow to understand things sometimes, but he wasn't stupid. She couldn't go back now, she had to tell him the truth. She had to tell him that she could be pregnant. And that even with this knowledge, she had insisted on drinking alcohol. They were in trouble. Big trouble.

"Lorelai?" Luke asked, figuring out what she meant faster than he'd ever had. "What did you say?" Luke was holding his breath.

Lorelai rolled over, took a deep breath and finally told someone other than Rory. "I could be pregnant."


	7. Chapter 7 Fear

Chapter 7

"What!" Luke said jumping out of bed. 'What' seemed to be his favorite word that night. Luke looked down at Lorelai's terrified face and was only able to display one tone: enraged.

"How could you not tell me this? When did you find out?" he asked. "Lorelai, you drank booze!" He yelled. "Oh god," he put his hand to his forehead and ran it through his hair.

Lorelai was staring up at his face, her mouth slightly open and her lower lip trembling. She had feared he'd get upset about this before. But that was before he'd told her he wanted kids. She could understand the alcohol consumption fear, she had it as well. But the questions he asked her, she knew the answers but was afraid to share them.

I don't even know for sure" Lorelai told him. I only got suspicious 3 days ago at the hospital with Sookie. I won't find out for sure until two weeks after conception."

"Conception, when?" Luke asked.

"The night of the magazine party" she replied. "In our drunken state we forgot to use protection" she told him.

Realization spread across his face. They had forgotten.

"Oh" was all he said. "At least it wasn't 'what?'" she thought.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I was scared. Until tonight I didn't know you wanted kids. Aside from when I've seen you with Rory, you've never seemed to be fond of them. And I didn't want to get you all riled up about it only to find out I might not be. I know it's unfair, but what can I tell you, I didn't know what to do."

Luke sat down on the bed, calmer than before.

"A baby" he said. "We might be parents already?"

"Could be, who knows?" Lorelai said.

"What about the alcohol?" he asked her.

"They say when you are trying to conceive you shouldn't drink after you've ovulated, but I have no idea when that was. I don't keep track any more. The last period I had was before the party."

"Could the alcohol affect the baby this early?" Luke asked trying to breath smoothly

"I've read that it can cause miscarriage" Lorelai replied regretfully

Luke's breath hitched. He was scared just like Lorelai was.

Luke tried to keep them both positive, but he knew if he didn't go to sleep soon he wouldn't be able to keep control of his emotions.

"Only time will tell then?" he asked.

"Yes" Lorelai replied, stroking his lower back. "Try to get some sleep."

Luke nodded and laid back down. But he doubted he'd sleep very soundly. And neither did his fiancée.

The next day Lorelai got a call from her father informing her about the meeting with a lawyer for Rory. Richard acted as if the previous night hadn't happened. Well it had and Lorelai wasn't going to let him forget. She also was informed by Michel a few days later that Emily would be stopping by to pick up Rory's things. She decided to pull an Emily Gilmore herself and do something evil. She sent Michel to guard dog her house and mother. Silly she knew, but she didn't feel like facing her mother yet. And, she just felt her mom deserved it.

Lorelai didn't really want to be heartless. But she felt Rory needed to learn a lesson. As did her parents. Along with the Gilmore drama Lorelai was dealing with the engagement news spreading through town and her and Luke's shared anxiety about the possible baby. Now that she and Luke were fully committed and he wanted children with her, she was less scared of the idea of being a mother for the second time. But, the possibility that the baby could have been affected by the alcohol she had drank filled her with a new fear. "If this kid dies or is born defected, it will be my fault" she told herself. It was killing her. Both of her children would be problematic. And one of them wasn't even out of the gate yet.


	8. Chapter 8 Shaggy cute

Chapter 8

Puppies. Lorelai could see puppies. She knew that it was a bad idea for her to walk into a pet fair, but she couldn't resist. They were so cute! There were dogs, cats, and even a pig. What would happen if she had a pet pig? That would be so cool.

"Hello Porky, hello!" Lorelai said to the piglet. "Aw. Well I'm feeling a little guilty about the You-L-T I had yesterday. That's right I'm sorry, please forgive me. Aw….." She walked away from the pig, he probably wasn't right for her any way. "Hi fellas, what's up, you both look like killers" she said to two dogs who probably only stood halfway up her thigh on their back legs.

Lorelai turned around and then saw a dog that had her full attention. A shaggy medium sized dog with bangs covering his probably "I need some loving" eyes. "Hey, hey you!" she said to the dog. She was in love, but trying not to show it. She didn't want to seem week. "Aw, someone seems very happy."

"He likes you and he's picky" said the salesgirl.

"He's cute! You're cute! You're shaggy cute!" Lorelai said lovingly to the dog, who rested back down into a humble position. "Oh we got a love thing going on don't we?" Lorelai said to really no one in particular. She wasn't hiding her love now.

"What are you doing?" Patty asked popping out of nowhere like any good gossip goddess.

"I'm just enjoying the animals Patty" Lorelai told her taking a step back and going into innocent mode.

"Honey this is not right, she can't have a love thing with a dog" Patty told the salesgirl.

Lorelai and Patty briefly argued about how Lorelai should not be a pet owner. Lorelai felt she was up for the job, but the resident head gossiper only brought up all Lorelai's past pet parenting experiences.

Yes the supposedly long living turtle died pretty early. Yes the hamster was a problem. "The hamster was defective" Lorelai had insisted. And the rabbit had been sick when she got it no matter what anyone else said. Yes her past experience with animals hadn't been a good one. But she'd managed to keep her daughter alive for 20 years, a pet had to be easier.

Then again, because of the stupid decision she'd made the night of her engagement, the townspeople might add another living creature that she'd badly taken care of to the list. Her second child. Little no name, genderless at the moment. Every day whenever she went to the bathroom or woke up she was afraid to find blood. She knew the second she saw any she was going to rush to the hospital. She hoped it would be her period if bleeding did occur. But it could be a miscarriage. She was terrified, she couldn't handle losing another child. Especially one she never met.

After the talk with Patty she ran into Liz, Luke's sister. Liz was her usual happy excited self. She was so glad her brother had finally found someone and she loved Lorelai. Liz asked her about Rory, and Lorelai gave her the reader's digest version.

After Liz ran off to her finger therapy session, Lorelai looked back at the shaggy cute dog. "I'll take him" she told the salesgirl.

"You bought a dog" Luke said in disbelief.

"Yeah and he loves me, and he doesn't give his love easily. The only drawbacks the name, Cocoa. It's too cutesy. But he's a rescue so I don't want to freak him out by giving him a new nickname right away. So I'm going to get to the name I want to give him in baby steps."

Lorelai explained the name changing progression to Luke's confusion.

When Luke and Lorelai were sitting outside on the porch, both of them drinking water because touching any alcohol terrified them, Lorelai asked him a question.

"You think Paul Anka will give you some good practice?" she asked

"Practice at what? Being annoyed?" he asked.

"No. Daddy practice…" she told him. Immediately regretting asking. They hadn't talked about the baby in days. Both had been completely avoiding the subject. They were silent for a moment, and then Luke continued the conversation

"Has it been two weeks yet?" Luke asked.

"Almost" Lorelai replied.

"And you can't take a test any earlier?"

"I don't think so"

"Time will tell?" he repeated from their engagement night.

"Yes" his fiancée replied.


	9. Chapter 9 It's

Chapter 9

Lorelai ventured out of the house with Paul Anka following slowly at her heels. She went down the steps but realized she didn't here the pitter-patter of dog feet behind her. She turned to see her new dog still on the porch.

"That's right, I forgot," Lorelai said walking back up the stairs. "You don't like the stairs," she picked up the dog and proceeded to successfully walk down the steps with him. "Come on Paul Anka," she grunted to the dog. "That's right, I'm skipping the in between thing and going straight for the gold. I'm calling you Paul Anka, Paul Anka the dog." Paul Anka barked then preceded to bark "viciously" at the mailbox. "You don't like mail boxes, got it," Lorelai said as she steered clear of it. She'd heard of a special needs child, but this was ridiculous. What if her baby was born like that? "Two weeks couldn't get here soon enough," she thought.

Lorelai had a pretty quirky life. She knew that. It wasn't just the town it was she too. She had a dog that was afraid of everything, and a fiancé who didn't know how to do anything less than far than beyond necessary. She came home to find 3 strange men inspecting her house. Luke joined them before she could hope her dog could do anything. "How did you get the door closed?" she said astonished by her dog's ability to run and hide.

Luke wanted to live in her house. Her teeny tiny house was about to get an extreme makeover, camera-less. "He's a great man," she thought. She knew it better than anyone. But one question nagged at her mind.

"If we stay in this small house, what are we going to do about….the baby?" she asked Luke tentatively.

"We have a spare bedroom, it's plenty of room for him," Luke replied. "Or her," he added.

"What if we have another one after this?" she asked.

Luke couldn't answer her. He knew what he would say if it wasn't so terrifying. "We don't know how damaged this one will be," he thought. Having another child after this one might be out of the question. He or she would be a full time job. No room in this house or their life for another.

"I don't know," he replied. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

"Okay," was all Lorelai could say.

"HOLE!" Lorelai yelled. "HOLE! HOLE! "Dirt! Dirt, bed, dirt, HOLE!" Lorelai yelled in monosyllables. Generally that was Luke's talking style. Lorelai thought she'd borrow it. It was so much easier to formulate speech that way in her shocked state.

"Speak in sentences," Luke told her. Of all the people to ask her to do that? "You found this when you got home?" he asked.

"Yes, a big hole!" she exclaimed.

"It was sledge hammered," Luke stated.

"With a very big sledge hammer" Lorelai 'corrected' him.

The demolition of her bedroom wall deeply stressed Lorelai. She had enough on her plate, why was life piling more on? She would be able to take a pregnancy test in a few days. And they couldn't come any sooner.

The day came. Lorelai stood in her bathroom holding the pregnancy test in her hand. She'd driven all the way to Hartford to buy it. There was no way she'd let any citizen of Stars Hollow see her buying it. Luke was outside the bathroom door and was as anxious as she was. Lorelai had asked him to stay outside. This was hard enough. She didn't want the added embarrassment of having Luke watch her pee. She was too on edge to be at all blasé about her fiancé seeing her on the toilet.

She took the test, hands shaking. As scary as it had been 20 years ago, she didn't think it had been nearly this terrifying last time. She placed the used test on the counter and washed her hands. She didn't know if she wanted to invite Luke into the bathroom to see the test as it seasoned itself.

She stood in silence. Luke stood right outside the door, waiting for it to open. They could hear each other's breathing.

3 minutes went by. Luke had been looking at the clock every few seconds, Lorelai's eyes hadn't even left the test's readout screen. A symbol appeared.

The bathroom door opened and Luke jumped to attention.

"Well?" he asked anxiously.

"I want to take the other one real quick," she said. "Just to be sure it's the same result."

The bathroom door closed again. Luke couldn't take it any more. He ripped the door open and looked at the first test. He looked at his fiancé holding the other test, tensed for his reaction.

"Take the other one," he told her. And he closed the bathroom door, while he was still in the room. She wasn't taking the second one alone.

3 minutes went by, the two of them looked at the result. It was the same as the first.

"It's….." Lorelai was about to say the result out loud. But Luke silenced her with a kiss and a tight hug.

*Was it positive or negative? You'll have to read more to find out. –DD *


	10. Chapter 10 Hurt

Chapter 10

"If it's positive," Luke thought to himself as he stood outside the bathroom door, "No matter how it comes out I will be a good father." He looked at the clock and saw they still had 2 minutes to go. "If it's false, then I will do anything in my power to make sure that when we finally have a child, we won't screw up that time." He looked at the clock, then the door, then at the clock. 1 minute to go. He stood still and tried to remain calm. He could hear Lorelai breathing on the other side of the door.

Luke closed his eyes and told himself one last thing. "Never blame Lorelai if your child is born with problems." Luke clenched his fists and tensed his back. "Never blame her," he thought.

The door opened, and Lorelai came out. To make this moment even scarier, she said she wanted to take the 2nd test to be sure. And she didn't let him see the first. He couldn't take it any more.

Luke stormed into the bathroom to look at the test.

Positive.

They looked at the 2nd test 3 minutes later.

Positive.

Luke was going to be a father. Before Lorelai could say aloud that they were now parents, Luke grabbed her in a loving embrace. He was happy, so happy. Although this was earlier than he had planned, he was going to be a father.

"So you think this is good then?" Lorelai asked him.

"More than anything," Luke replied. And off to her bed they went, to celebrate. Lorelai wasn't going to tell Luke yet that it would be a good idea to get a doctor's prognosis as well. But she knew as they undressed each other, that she'd have to find a way to tell Rory some how. Her daughter might not be in her life at the moment, but she needed to know.

But how?

Luke was flying high. Although he knew deep down that his baby might have some difficulties in life, he was trying to be very optimistic at the time. Other than the slight alcohol on Lorelai's part -and her age, which he wasn't about to bring up- the baby would be taken care of very well. He was going to get Lorelai to stop drinking coffee, or at least switch to decaf. He would keep her away from bad foods, how he wasn't sure. He would be at every doctor's appointment. Read every book he needed to. Luke would be a good Dad. Nothing was going to get in his way, he hoped.

"Kitchen's closed," he said as he heard the diner door open after he'd already switched the sign to closed. He turned around to see Rory. "Rory?" he said in surprise.

"Hi, Luke," Rory said, being sheepish but trying to stay chipper.

Hi," was all Luke could say.

"So, kitchen's closed?"

No, no, no, it's not closed. Come on in,"

Luke invited her to sit on one of the bar stools. As she sat down he poured her a cup of coffee. They talked a little about the town. And Rory asked how "people" were doing. Luke knew her well enough to know she wanted to hear about her mother. So he like her referred to Lorelai as "people." 'People are good' he had said.

Luke was able to handle this situation; he loved Rory no matter what choice she had made. He knew Lorelai did too. But he wasn't giving Rory the cold shoulder like her mother was. He felt Rory deserved honesty. He knew his fiancée might kill him, but he had to say it.

"You're mother and I are engaged," he told her.

"Engaged?" she said allowed not really to ask but to process.

"Yeah," Luke said.

"Wow. Congratulations," Rory said.

"What? How? Where?" Lorelai asked. Luke had told Rory they were engaged.

"She came into the diner last night. It was awkward and stupid, and I ended up telling her we were engaged!" Luke told her from the roof. He was angry. He was mad that Rory didn't know. He loved Rory, she was practically his daughter. But, hid 'daughter's' mother wanted to keep Rory out of it. This upset him greatly.

They had a small quarrel about how Rory should have known. Toward the end of the yelling from roof to grass conversation, Lorelai asked Luke a question.

"Did you tell her about…..our other news?" She wasn't about to say 'baby' when T.J was near by, he was a loud mouth. She could just imagine him running around town yelling to the square that he was going to be an uncle. Like anyone cared? Well, they cared that their favorite Stars Hollow couple would be having a baby, but hearing it from T.J? She'd never hear the end of it from them.

"You guys set a date yet?" Rory spat at her mother.

"Grandma redecorate the pool house yet?" Lorelai spat back.

"Be sure to send me a picture," Rory said sarcastically.

"Be sure to send me a change of address card," Lorelai channeled her daughter's tone.

Rory informed her mother that she wasn't allowed to talk to 'outsiders.' Lorelai started to walk away from Rory informed her.

"You and Luke getting engaged without telling me, you hurt me!" Lorelai whipped her body around, and said what she felt was perfect for the moment. She needed to tell Rory eventually.

"I'm pregnant," Lorelai said for the first time out loud. Rory's face turned to stunned. "And that hurt you were talking about?" Lorelai asked. Lorelai started to walk away again, "right back at you!" she said without a backward glance.


	11. Chapter 11 Love

Chapter 11

"No they were for me. I decided to eat my weight in muffins today," Lorelai said sarcastically to Luke. She might be pregnant, but she wasn't about to let her self get humongous yet. When Luke got her "frantic" call about muffins, he had assumed it was a craving. "You trying to be Super Dad or something?" Lorelai asked him.

"No, I just thought….." Luke trailed off blushing a little. He was sort of trying to be Super Dad. He wanted Lorelai constantly taken care of and everything to work out. Was that so crazy? He knew if he asked Lorelai that she'd probably respond along the lines of, "Of course it's not crazy, not step away from me you frighten me." That would be a joke of course, but he didn't need to ask her about it just to hear that.

"Does the dog have to sit at the table like that?" Luke asked her.

"Like what? His posture is perfect," Lorelai said in pride and mock obliviousness.

"Chairs are for people," he told her.

"Not that chair, that's Paul Anka's chair," she told him in their debate.

"Dogs are filthy. They have fleas and malaria on them. You shouldn't have fleas and malaria in the room you are going to eat in." What he wanted to say was that there shouldn't be malaria near his pregnant fiancée.

"I don't eat in here, they do," Lorelai said referring to the construction workers. But that was also a way of her saying, 'malaria isn't going to be any where near me, the dog is fine.'

Luke did a sarcastic bit with the guys about how they were getting free food, but basically mooching. Lorelai got him to stop when she made it clear the guys knew what Luke was doing. The morning continued on with Luke complaining about T.J's fake contractor job and managed to get mad about the shower incident. "He wouldn't be Luke if he didn't," Lorelai thought.

Rory was sitting to breakfast with her grandmother, listening to Emily get outraged about the supposed red blueberries she was eating. In between that she was fitting in her anger about Constance Betterton's attack of her. Rory tried her best to calm her grandmother down, without making it seem like her grandmother couldn't do that herself.

"Maybe if I tell her Mom's news then she and I could have something to be angry about together," Rory thought. If her Mom could be silly, so could see. Emily, Lorelai, and Rory Gilmore: silliest women in the universe.

"Which will be when?" Sookie asked Lorelai.

"What?" Lorelai asked.

"When?" 

"When what?"

"When will you be getting married I'm going to need a date," Sookie explained.

"Oh, well we haven't set one yet," Lorelai told her.

"Well, I had Michel block out all of July for next year!" Sookie told her excitedly.

"You what?" Lorelai asked in her 'are you serious?' tone.

"I figured you and Luke for an outdoorsy, summer wedding,"

"Who and Luke?" Lorelai asked. Outdoorsy, her?

"July 23rd is my pick but I am flexible," Sookie told her, still oblivious (or possibly purposely ignoring her best friend) about how Lorelai felt.

Lorelai told Michel to un-block it out, which prompted him to use his 'I win' voice and tell Sookie he knew Lorelai wasn't getting married. Lorelai argued that she was, which made the easily won over Sookie convinced Lorelai wasn't getting married either. But Lorelai found a way to get Sookie back on her side.

"Sookie," she said, finally telling her best friend the news. "I'm pregnant."

Sookie did her patented jump in the air, scream, and shake her hands in surprise reaction.

"I knew it! She sing song screamed. "I knew it!"

"Oh, so that's why you're getting married," Michel said insultingly.

"No," Lorelai told him

"Oh please if she was pregnant and they weren't engaged first she would have just run," Sookie said matter-of-factly.

"Sookie!" Lorelai said shocked.

"What, you did it before!" Sookie said in defense.

"Yeah when I was 16!" Lorelai argued.

"Well whatever reason you are getting married, Next July is best because you should have your figure back by then" Sookie said.

"As long as you are getting married for, 'love'" Michel said judgmentally, before leaving the kitchen.

"Forget him," Sookie said referring to Michel. "So, when did you figure this out?" she asked Lorelai.

"A few days ago," Lorelai told her.

"And you were engaged before that, so yay! It's not just the baby!" Sookie said all excited again hugging Lorelai. Lorelai took the hug, but a look of guilt was on her face.

"Actually, I had a feeling I could be when I was at the hospital with you," Lorelai told Sookie.

"So did you propose to Luke when you thought you could be pregnant?" Sookie asked in worry.

"No, I proposed to him because I love him," Lorelai responded. "I didn't tell him about the baby until after we were engaged."

"Okay then," Sookie said, some worry and doubt in her tone.

"I'm telling the truth Sookie," Lorelai told her.

"I know, I know," Sookie responded, going back to cooking, not looking at Lorelai.


	12. Chapter 12 Baptism and Barfing

Chapter 12

"Tell me you didn't," Luke said as he took off his watch. "Tell me you didn't." He went to inspect the dog. His breath proved it. Paul Anka had eaten chocolate. Baking chocolate to be exact. Not that it really mattered, when it comes to dogs, chocolate is chocolate. Luke hoisted the dog into his arms and ran out his apartment door.

After failed attempts to contact the animal hospital he called Babette and she gave him the vet's address. To hurry the vet to the door he yelled that it was an animal emergency. The moment the vet came out Luke made a desperate speech.

"….This isn't my dog it's my fiancée's dog. She loves him. She named him Paul Anka, which may on the surface not seem like a sign of love, but if you knew her you'd get it. And believe me there are a lot of ways I could screw this up," Like not being a good father and letting something terrible like this happen to their real baby. "….this relationship but I can not loose her over the fact that I killed her dog."

The vet who probably dealt with frantic pet owners every day welcomed Luke into his home and got the ipecac.

The next morning when Lorelai asked Luke how his night had been with Paul Anka he decided to be honest with her immediately. Considering how angry he'd been when she had waited to tell him about the baby, he didn't want to be a hypocrite. So he went into explaining what happened to her surprised expression. After he was finished he asked her a thoughtful question about how to make scrambled eggs for the dog, but she decided to say something else first.

"Luke?" she said. "I don't want to set a wedding date until things are right with Rory."

"Okay," he said. And after a pause he decided to segue back to what he'd previously been talking about. "So the cheddar is?"

"Okay," she said. Luke started to walk away to make the eggs when Lorelai added; "You showed great initiative last night. Good quality of a Dad."

Luke gave her his patented hooked lip smile. "Thanks," he said.

"Right back at you," she told him, scratching Paul Anka's ears while she smiled at her fiancé.

Lorelai knew better than to enter Sookie's kitchen while she was fighting with Jackson about something other than produce. She knew better than to stand within five feet of the kitchen door when Sookie was yelling at anyone (or anything). But she really needed coffee. She'd been drinking decaf ever since Luke mandated it, but she couldn't stand the stuff any more. She needed the real coffee. So she decided to walk through the kitchen really fast to get it. And of course because she was always on Sookie's side, she got dragged into their conversation about baptism.

"Are you and Luke going to baptize your baby?" Sookie asks, obviously hoping Lorelai would say something along the lines of, "Hell no, why would I do that?" But Lorelai tried to be Switzerland on this one.

"We haven't talked about that yet," she told Sookie. "I haven't even started morning sickness yet."

"If it were up to you, would you baptize your baby?" Sookie asked, grasping at straws.

"I'm not particularly religious." Lorelai replied. If she wasn't on such outs with her parents, she might have considered baptizing the baby to make them happy (like she did with Rory), but she really didn't care about that.

Lorelai stayed in the kitchen long enough to calm both Sookie and Jackson down, and she convinced them to let their family stay at the inn. As she left the room though, she heard the two of them have one of their more common fights: a vegetable battle.

What Sookie had asked her made her think about baby plans. When should they start decorating Rory's room? Since it was the only other bedroom in the house it would have to be the baby's. Once the remodel was done would they have room in the enlarged master bedroom for a nursery area? From what she could understand from the blue prints it seemed that way.

Luke seemed to be passing with flying colors with how to deal with her pregnancy right now, but what would happen when the morning sickness started? When she started having crazy mood swings and cravings? Could he handle that?

When she got home from work, she knew she needed to unwind. Luke was busy at the diner because the school sports had started up again and a lot of high schoolers were stopping by the diner after practice. Lorelai was 2 months along now. The scary and unnatural parts of pregnancy should be starting up soon. "Hey, maybe it won't happen this time," she joked/prayed.

Lorelai made herself some dinner, and decided to watch one of her videotapes. She picked up "Riding the bus with my sister." After looking at it for a moment, she put it down. She couldn't fathom watching it now. Not without…Rory.

She tried to call Rory, but computer voice kept telling her the phone was disconnected. She gave up on that. Rory probably didn't want to talk to her anyway. The last time she'd seen her it hadn't been a good conversation. She wished she could have told Rory about the baby some other way.

"Are you into risky business?" Jackson's creepy brother Beau asked Lorelai when he was attempting to flirt with her at the front desk.

"No, all of a sudden I hate it. Tom Cruise in his underwear makes me want to barf," she said disgusted and panicked. It might not be just Beau who was making her want to throw up.

"Alright then," Beau said a few minutes later. "See you soon." And then he did one of the most disgusting things Lorelai had ever seen. He licked his room key.

Now Lorelai really wanted to throw up. And a couple minutes later, she did.

"I think it's safe to say the morning sickness has started," Luke said when she told him later.

*Okay, that was my longest chapter, woo big achievement. I've noticed today that there haven't been any more people reviewing or adding this to their alerts, so I guess my story is loosing popularity. Don't be afraid to give me reviews. If there is anything I'm doing that is making you less interested in reading further, please tell me. More to come soon. Thank you for reading. –DD *


	13. Chapter 13 They Know

Chapter 13

"How did she look?" Emily asked Richard.

"Fine." Richard told her. His vague answer really annoyed his wife.

"Was she thin? Heavy? Did she look tired? What was she wearing? And is she still on that nether world "I don't know what my hair is supposed to be?"

"She looked just like Lorelai," Richard told her. Just at that moment, Rory walked in.

"You talked to Mom?" she asked her grandfather. Richard sighed; he was really tired of answering this question.

"Yes?"

"How did she look?" Rory asked.

"Didn't I just answer this question?" Richard asked exasperated.

Rory stood in silence and then sat down.

"Guys?" she said to her grandparents. "There's something you should know."

"What is it dear?" Emily asked in worry. "A problem with Logan?"

"No," Rory said. "It's not about me, it's Mom."

"Have you talked to her recently?" Emily asked. Was she the only one Lorelai was avoiding?

"A while back," Rory responded.

"And?" Emily asked. Rory sighed, took a deep breath and then spoke.

"This is hard to say, but," She took another breath. "Mom's pregnant."

"Oh my god!" Emily sank into her chair. "For how long?"

"It's been a few months," Rory told them. "By my count she's almost 5 months."

"That's around the last time I saw her." Emily said. She couldn't believe it.

"Perhaps that was why she was so irrational when we…" Richard paused. "Told her the plan," he ended.

"The pregnancy wasn't even fully formed then," Rory said. "She only thought she could be at that time."

"She knew she was pregnant last time we saw her?" Emily asked. She couldn't believe she had just found out about this now.

"She wasn't sure," Rory said. "She had called me when she was first worried. We were still…talking then."

"You can't blame her for not telling us Emily," Richard tried to reason with his wife. "She wasn't even sure."

"Is that Neanderthal the father?" Emily asked flippantly.

"His name is Luke," Rory said defensively. "And, yes."

"Does he know?" Richard asked, far more polite than Emily.

"They're engaged," Rory told them. "They found out about the baby a little while after," she added. She didn't want her grandparents to be any more judgmental than they were already being. She was still mad at her mom, but not at Luke. She didn't want him to look bad. Not that she wanted her mom to look that way, but what could she do? Her grandmother was always judgmental of her mother.

"I can't believe it," Emily said, placing her hand on her heart.

"I didn't even realize," Richard said, referring to when he'd seen her face to face. He chalked that one up to his absent-mindedness.

Rory hated having to be the one to tell them. But they deserved to know. It was their grandchild. It was her sibling.

"How do you feel being 5 months along?" asked Lorelai's doctor. It was time to find out the sex of the baby. Lorelai had her shirt open and the ultrasound wand was working it's magic. It was October, almost Rory's birthday. Lorelai and Luke were excited and nervous to find out the gender. And Lorelai, wished her daughter could be here to see it.

"Do you want to know the sex today?" the doctor asked. Lorelai said yes at the same time that Luke said sure.

"Sure?" Lorelai asked. "That's your opinion?"

"I meant to say yes," Luke assured her. "I was just nervous."

"I've almost got a read on it," the doctor said.

Luke tensed, and Lorelai tried to breath regularly so the baby didn't get distressed.

"I hope you get exactly what you want," the doctor told them.

"We don't care, as long as it's healthy," Lorelai said, taking Luke's hand.

"We can still perform the amniocentesis if you'd like," the doctor said.

"No," Luke said immediately. "Too dangerous."

"He's been hopped up on baby books," Lorelai explained to the doctor. "He's worried about miscarriage."

"It's not a risk I'm willing to take," Luke told her.

"I know, but miscarriage doesn't result all the time," Lorelai informed him.

"However this baby comes out we will handle it," Luke said with determination. There was no changing his mind on this one. It wasn't like Lorelai was fond of the idea of having a needle stabbed into her abdomen. An abdomen that was definitely showing now. Her loosest dresses were starting to be tight. Although she wasn't expanding as much as she had the first time, she was big enough that a lot of people commented on it.

"I'm closing in on it," the doctor said. Both Luke and Lorelai took a deep breath. Luke focused on the screen, trying to read the screen of morphed images. Lorelai was looking right at the doctor's face, tensed that she'd say that she found something wrong with the baby.

"Congratulations," the doctor said. "It's a boy."


	14. Chapter 14 A Contender

Chapter 14

"I don't know why but the names Jamie and Noah are the only boy names I can think of that I like," Lorelai said, as Luke drove them home from the hospital.

"What happened to naming him Juan Valdez?" Luke asked her sarcastically. He was thinking back to one of the times he'd seen Lorelai and Rory in the diner and Lorelai had been in a coffee trance. She had said that if she ever had a son she would name him Juan Valdez because his coffee was so good.

"Oh you kill me," Lorelai joked. "How seriously did you take that?"

"I'd rather we didn't name him Juan," Luke said. "The names you chose don't sound too bad." Then it looked like Luke was about to say something else, but he stopped himself.

"What?" Lorelai asked. "Did you have a suggestion?"

"Well," he said, looking like he felt weird to say it. "It's sort of been an off again on again tradition in my family to name sons after their fathers."

"Really?" Lorelai asked.

"Yeah, I know how you feel about men naming their kids after themselves," Luke said, turning into Stars Hollow trying to act like it didn't matter. "But, my dad was named after his father, and one of the many stories my mom used to tell me when I was a kid was that she'd wished she could have had a million sons so she could have named them Lucas because she loved the name so much."

"Aw, that's sweet," Lorelai said getting a sappy smile on her face. Since becoming pregnant Lorelai found things easily cute. "We'll add it to the list as a contender," she told him.

"If you want," Luke said, trying to hide his happiness.

"I want," she said. He smiled at her. He was getting a son, and the mother was Lorelai, the woman Luke had been in love with for years. He was very happy.

"I'm happy too," Lorelai said, reading his mind.

"Hello?" Lorelai answered when she'd rushed to the phone on her way into the house.

"I'm turning your bedroom into a gift wrapping room and I have to get rid of your doll house," her mother said instead of a hello. "Do you want it?" she asked. Lorelai had been getting originally mysteriously sent packages for days. She'd figured out earlier that day that they had been from her mother. And now her mother was calling her, trying to send her something else.

"What?" Lorelai asked. Why did her mother never say hello first?

"Your doll house," Emily repeated. "It's quite cumbersome and I have absolutely no place to put it."

"Um, well, uh, have you checked the basement because I bet there's oodles of space down there right about now," Lorelai said sarcastically.

Emily claimed that she was cleaning and had only sent Lorelai things she'd be getting eventually anyway. As her mother talked Lorelai realized her mother was trying to get Lorelai to Hartford. She figured it was either so she could try and get her claws back into Lorelai, or she was attempting to get her daughter and granddaughter to talk to each other. Those seemed like possibilities until Emily dropped a whopper on Lorelai when Lorelai wasn't giving her a for sure time for when she could stop by.

"Keeping me out of your baby's life is not right Lorelai!" Emily yelled.

"How the hell did she find out?" Lorelai thought. But then she knew. Rory.

"I'll come when I can," Lorelai told her, not denying or admitting that her mother knew the truth. "Bye."

When Lorelai went to the Diner that night, she could see that Luke was mad about something. Rather than wait until he was in a better mood, since she liked when he ranted she decided to tell him what happened on the phone earlier.

"My parents know about the baby just so you know," she said.

Luke grumbled, he was far too angry for the significance of what she said to distract him. He'd get to it later. After listening to Luke rant about Taylor and his supposed jungle gym violation, she told him of her plan to get Taylor to knock it off about the street names.

"So your parents know about the baby huh?" Luke asked, he had just calmed down about Taylor and was able to change the subject.

"Yep," Lorelai said.

"Do they know we're engaged?"

"I don't know, Mom didn't get that far,"

"Well, they were going to find out eventually," Luke said.

"Better late then never," Lorelai agreed. "I'll see you later."

Later on Lorelai and Luke were going through the boxes Emily had sent over. Or rather Luke was going through them, and considering a lot of the items. Lorelai decided not to care. "Salvation Army" was her answer to everything.

When the doorbell rang, Lorelai got up thinking it was her pizza. She opened the door to instead seeing her father on the other side. He took a glance at her stomach. She quickly folded her arms over it, feeling a little bit self-conscious. Richard looked at her face, trying to focus on the matter that had brought him here.

"I thought you'd want this," Richard said, directing her eyes to the dollhouse behind him.

"Thanks. I do." Lorelai responded.

"And, we need to talk about Rory," her father told her.

Lorelai took in a deep breath and released. "Oh boy," she thought.

*Just so you know, when I write this story I reference both the show and the Gilmore Girls books (the short ones styled like Rory's diary). In one of those books, Rory talks about how Lorelai said she wanted to name her son Juan. So that is technically a fact from the show. Just so you know. And one of the reviews I got said that it would be nice if Lorelai and Rory made up sooner than they did in the real show. I'm going to try to do that. I'm working on a way. Thank you for reading. -DD


	15. Chapter 15 Stress

Chapter 15

"When Rory wants help she will ask for it," Lorelai told her father. She wasn't going to go along with his insane plan to get Rory back into school. "The minute she does I will fly in faster than the gulfstream I'm sure you're going to offer to buy her next. But until then…." Before she could finish talking she was bent over clutching her stomach.

"What's wrong?" Luke bounded out of the house. He must have been standing near by.

"Just a big kick," Lorelai told him. She looked up and made eye contact with her father. He had stepped back a little, trying to not seem so threatening. "I will help her when she's ready," Lorelai told him straightening up.

"Impossible girl!" Richard called her, returning to how upset he was before. He was too upset and scared to be able to find a tactful way to respond. He wasn't as oblivious as he had been the last time he'd seen her though. He could see she was halfway through a well-developed pregnancy. She was fragile and shouldn't be stressed. But he just couldn't stop himself from being angry. He was angry that she wasn't going to help him. And he was angry at himself for not realizing she had been right all along. Because of a bad decision he'd made his granddaughter's future was slowly disappearing and his daughter was exploring a life path he had no involvement in.

"My native American name I believe," said Lorelai, still clutching her stomach and breathing hard with her back still slightly hunched.

Richard stormed off the porch and left. Luke put his hands on Lorelai's shoulders and started to usher her back inside while he said,

"You shouldn't stress yourself so much."

"I know," Lorelai said. They got back into the house and Luke closed the door calmly.

"You're sure the baby is okay?" Luke asked, helping her sit down carefully onto her bed.

"Yes he's fine," she told him. "He just didn't like me getting angry."

"Your father didn't either," Luke said. "He didn't mean to leave so rudely."

"How would you know?" Lorelai asked.

"I could just tell," Luke responded.

"I guess you know how to speak 'Dad' now." Lorelai stated rather than asked.

"Maybe," Luke said. He kissed her forehead, and hugged her shoulders.

"I wonder if the Waltons ever did this?" Rory asked Madeline Albright. Rory looked at her door way and saw a pregnant teen Lorelai, who then morphed into the current day pregnant Lorelai.

Rory jolted awake, from the weirdest dream she'd ever had in her life.

"What?" Logan asked, referring to her jolt.

"I just had a dream that Madeline Albright was my mother," she told him. She didn't bother divulging what else happened.

"Huh," Logan said. And then he went back to sleep.

Later on, Rory and Logan talked about the plan Lorelai had made years ago for Rory's 21st birthday.

"I know you miss your mom," Logan said in an understanding voice as they sat down. "The concept is a little hard for me to grasp but I know you do."

"Well you never got to know her," Rory explained. "She can be pretty cool. But now we aren't speaking. She's got a whole new life with Luke. Their baby will be arriving in a few months. I might never get to know him or her."

"I'm sure you'll make up by then," Logan tried to assure her.

"Maybe," Rory responded.

"Do you want me to put your mother on this list?" Emily asked Rory as they were going over the guest list for her party.

"Mom?" Rory asked.

"It's completely up to you, I just thought I would ask," Emily said. Emily was trying to be as empathetic as she could on this. She didn't want to do anything to make Rory uncomfortable. But at the same time, she needed another excuse to get Lorelai there so she could see her. Her daughter was getting married and having a baby. No matter what had happened recently Emily felt she had a right to be knowledgeable of the situation. By now Lorelai must know the baby's gender. Was Emily getting a grandson or granddaughter? Was it one baby or more? When would the wedding be? A mother should know these things about her daughter. She had a right.

Lorelai did end up coming to the party. Once she knew the invite was genuinely from Rory, she wanted to come. She claimed it was just for the chocolate box, but anyone with half a brain knew better. She brought Luke, so she could have a buffer if need be.

Along with the prospect of finally being able to see her daughter, Emily had something else big on her mind. The dinner with their minister had given the grandparents some starling news: Rory was having sex. She was having sex under their roof. Emily was not happy about this.

"The reception on the other side might be warmer," Luke said, comparing the Gilmore's door to death's door. Before he could knock the door opened. Luke and Lorelai stepped inside as Lorelai made the joke, "at least you didn't have to knock."

The couple was good and clear for a few seconds, until Emily ambushed them.

"Lorelai," Emily called out. "You came!" she said in an excited tone, but Lorelai was on her toes, again. "There's a chocolate box for you in the hallway."

"Thank you, Mom," Lorelai said. Luke had one of the oddly colored drinks the waiters were serving in his hand. Lorelai had opted out, obviously. Emily smiled at them, and then tried to unsuccessfully look down at her daughter's stomach quickly without Lorelai noticing. Lorelai definitely was pregnant. She was developing well. And when Emily had just been focusing on Lorelai's face she hadn't been able to tell her daughter was pregnant. Lorelai had been embarrassingly large the last time she'd been pregnant by Emily's memory. But that might have been because Emily didn't want people to know about her daughter's condition.

Emily went on to distract them by telling Luke she didn't have a chocolate box for him. Then she managed to find a way to judge him and make him feel bad about not trying drink (apparently called Rory) yet. Emily took one last look at her daughter's stomach and then walked off.

A few minutes later Rory and Lorelai had an uncomfortable run-in in front of Paris and Doyle. Lorelai tried to be friendly like they used to be, but Rory wasn't able to hide her discomfort. In a way it was like Lorelai's confrontation with Emily just a few minutes ago. "It must be genetic," Lorelai thought. Gilmore mothers always tried to act like nothing was wrong, and Gilmore daughters always refused to hide their feelings.

Later on in the night Emily came up to Lorelai, when her buffer was nowhere to be seen.

"Well," Emily said. "How's the party going so far?"

"Seems to be a big hit," Lorelai responded.

"Where's Luke? I hope he didn't get lost somewhere," Emily said, looking around to hide the fact that she had a judgmental smirk on her face.

"Oh no, I'm sure he's just sizing up how much silver he can stuff into his pockets without it making too much of a bulge," Lorelai said sarcastically. Her mother never ignored an opportunity to speak badly of Luke.

"I was not insinuating that he was a thief," Emily said smiling, her eyes were somehow laughing at Lorelai's "ridiculous" conclusion. "I was just making small polite talk, that's what you do at parties." Saying that gave Emily the opportunity to judge her daughter as well.

"Im sorry, I forgot. Luke went to get a beer. Take it," Lorelai said, trying to prompt her mother to continue their so-called bit. But Lorelai talking with her hand prompted her mother to instead look at Lorelai's ring finger.

The ring was beautiful. Emily never imagined Luke could afford such a thing. Really she had assumed that the engagement was just something Luke claimed to make Lorelai think he could be trusted. Emily never believed it was truly serious. But the ring said it all.

Lorelai realized that her mother was looking, so she held the ringed hand up close to her heart so her mom could get a better look.

"Well, it seems congratulations are in order," Emily said.

"Well, that wasn't exactly congratulations," Lorelai said, calling Emily's judgment. "But sure, close enough."

Emily got distracted by the caterer and walked off. After hearing her mother talk about how her father was being stupid and missing the party, Lorelai decided to go find him. She thought it must have to do with the plan falling apart.

She went to his study, only to find he was upset about something else. It seemed that Richard had found out Rory was having sex. It never occurred to Lorelai that her parents would ever find out. If it weren't for Dean's ex wife Lindsey throwing a public fit when she found out about Dean and Rory's affair, no one in Stars Hollow would have known Rory wasn't a virgin. Rory generally was secretive about her personal life.

Richard talked about how everything was all wrong. He hated that Rory had been so dishonest with them. Lorelai didn't really think Rory's sex life was Richard's business, but she didn't say anything about it.

"I'm tired of being kept out of her life," Richard said. "The entire time she's been here she's been secretive." He looked up at his daughter and asked, "Why didn't you tell us about you and Luke? Was it out of spite?"

"No," Lorelai said, sitting down on the leg rest. "I just wasn't comfortable telling you guys."

"That's how you've always been," Richard stated.

"I know, I don't mean to be," Lorelai apologized. "Do you want to know what's going on?" she asked. Richard looked up at her, his eyes telling her he did want to know.

"I proposed to Luke the same night Rory moved in here," she calmly told him. "I had previously thought I could be pregnant, but I wasn't sure. I proposed to him because I love him. He had plans to do the same, but I beat him to it. 2 weeks later we knew for sure that I was pregnant because the tests came out positive. We found out a little while ago that we are having a boy."

Richard's face had gone from vulnerable to adorably interested. His eyes twinkled when he found out he'd be getting a grandson.

"We have a few name ideas," Lorelai continued to tell him. "But we are considering naming him Lucas at the moment."

Just as Lorelai said they were considering the name Lucas, Emily stormed in to yell at her husband. She got mad at him for staying away. Richard no longer paying attention to Lorelai yelled back about how they had lost Rory. Richard and Emily got loud enough that there was some silence in the party outside the door. Lorelai stepped in.

"Guys, stop!" she told them, getting between them as much as she thought was safe. "People are going to hear you." She unintentionally had placed her hand to her stomach. Richard immediately looked concerned. Was the baby reacting like it (or rather 'he') had the last time Lorelai had been stressed. Richard backed down, as angry as he was he did not want to cause his daughter pain. He wanted this feud over with. Emily had a harder time calming down.

"We have not failed," Emily said, trying to get the last word before they were forced to end the conversation. She didn't want anyone to know her family was having trouble either. "We have not failed until that girl comes home pregnant, then we have failed."

"And on that note," Lorelai commented, and then she left. Richard watched her leave, he wished Emily had stopped before. In a slightly quieter tone, the two of them continued their conversation about Rory. As Emily started to leave the room because what Richard had said about her life had hurt her, Richard said one last thing.

"She's having a boy, Emily,"

Emily paused at the door, her hand on the knob. She didn't say anything or look at Richard.

"They might name him after Luke," Richard told her.

"Oh God," Emily said under her breath, leaving the room. That's the last thing she wanted to hear. Her grandson, Moronic lout Jr.


	16. Chapter 16 Communication

Chapter 16

After what she'd just witnessed with her parents, Lorelai was ready to leave. She walked around the house looking for Luke, but her eyes fell on Rory. They awkwardly looked at each other, and then Lorelai decided to talk to her daughter.

"Luke thinks your drink is disgusting," Lorelai told Rory.

"Oh I'm aware," Rory said, she had talked to Luke about it earlier.

"Nice party, though," Lorelai changed subjects with a flattery.

"Yeah it's very nice," Rory said trying to keep the conversation up. She wanted to be able to talk to her mom.

"You look great," her mom told her

"You look really skinny," her daughter told her. "For a pregnant woman," she added.

"Yeah I know, shocking isn't it?" Lorelai joked.

"You were so jealous of Sherry when she looked as skinny as you while pregnant," Rory said.

"Who knew the up keep on this was really that easy?" Lorelai joked again.

"Yeah, who knew," Rory replied. They had a brief moment of silence, and then Lorelai got some confidence and spoke.

"It's a boy," she finally got to tell her daughter. Rory's face lit up.

"Oh my god!" she exclaimed happily. She wanted to hug her mother so badly, she wanted to touch her mom's belly and feel her little brother kick. But she couldn't, she and her mother weren't there yet.

"Yeah and I have a dog too," Lorelai told her. "Also a boy."

Rory got concerned, worried about Lorelai's previous pets. She asked some brief questions just to be sure the dog was fine. After the dog scare was out of the way, Lorelai couldn't think of anything else to talk about other than the party. But before she could say much, a chorus of 'Happy Birthday' rang out. Rory was escorted to the cake, surrounded by her guests. Lorelai stood on the sidelines. She felt she didn't belong there. Luckily her buffer fiancé came up to her. They left the house and got on the road. As they were driving, without looking at Luke, Lorelai stated something important.

"Lucas for sure," she told Luke. "That will be his name."

"Okay," Luke said. And then referring to what she'd asked of him the other day. "And you can pull link sausages out of me if you want."

Lorelai took hold of Luke's free hand. And then sat with his arm around her shoulders for the rest of the drive home.

* I decided to make this chapter short because the previous chapter was more than 2,000 words. I wanted to have this chapter to technically be in the previous chapter, but I didn't want it to be that long. Once formatted onto the website, 2,000 words doesn't seem too long, but it did in document form. So from now on I'm going to try to not let my chapters be more than 1,000 words. Thank you for reading. I appreciate your reviews. –DD *


	17. Chapter 17 Scary kids and honest exes

Chapter 17

For a few days, Lorelai was concerned with Paul Anka's health. Luke had joked that Lorelai was crazy. Paul Anka was great and singing better than ever. That was just one of the countless string of Paul Anka the person jokes that Lorelai had to deal with since she named her dog that. But she was really concerned, what if he died?

Rory was having troubles of her own. Dealing with her grandmother. She felt like she was living in 1984 (the book, not the year). Her grandmother was everywhere, watching and bothering Rory every chance she got. Since Emily was still in denial about how they had lost Rory already, she wasn't going to let up.

Lorelai and Luke got introduced to the apparently wild world of middle school soccer. While Rory ran into an old boyfriend, Jess. Lorelai and Luke experienced fear, upon realizing they had just taken part in a team of murderous 11 year olds. Rory was starting to realize more than ever that the choice she'd made all those months ago was a bad one.

"What the hell is going on?" Jess asked Rory. "What are you doing? Living at your grandparent's place? Being in the DAR? No Yale? Why did you drop out of Yale?"

Why had she dropped out of Yale? All she could think of to say was that it was 'complicated.' But she realized that Jess was right. She should be in a dorm. She should be member of a book or movie club. She should be at Yale. She and her mom shouldn't be on the outs. She should have been on her mom's side of the tracks, not her grandparents. As Jess walked away and she looked away she thought about all this. She knew what she had to do.

Luke woke up early one morning, realizing his fiancée was not next to him. It wasn't normal of her to be up before him. "Unless," he thought, "something was on her mind." So Luke got up and went to look for her. The trail of sexy shoes led him to Rory's room.

He walked in to find Paul Anka asleep on Rory's bed. He turned to see Lorelai asleep in the chair. She didn't look comfortable.

Lorelai woke up drowsy yet worried. She was terrified that something had gone wrong with her dog and that's why her fiancé was waking her up. She talked and he listened about how concerned she was. But her calm concern turned into tearful terror.

"And the thing with the shoes, he was trying to tell me something," Lorelai explained to Luke. "I tried so hard," she cried. "I have a list of things that he's afraid of on the fridge. And I tried to do the right thing."

She went on about all the things she should have done and shouldn't have done. But slowly what she said morphed into talking about her children.

"I shouldn't have drank alcohol when I knew I could be pregnant." She said blubbering through tears. "I shouldn't have fought Rory so much. I'm a bad mother!" she cried very deeply.

"You are not a bad mother," Luke assured her. "Did you sleep at all?" he asked in concern. He tried to get her to go back to bed. As she got up he went to call Sookie to tell her Lorelai would be late. But the doorbell rang. Out of habit Lorelai went to answer it. She wiped her face on the way to the door. She opened it to find the last person she thought she'd ever see on the other side.

Rory.

"If you were a bad mother, I wouldn't be here," Rory told her.

Now Lorelai knew how Babette always knew everything, the walls of this how were thin. Rory had overheard her mom's tearful speech to Luke. Lorelai was still tearful when Rory continued to talk.

"I need your help," Rory told her.

That's what Lorelai needed to hear. Like her tears, she was coming in fast like the gulfstream. She hugged her daughter, and then led her in, their arms still around each other's waists.

Emily went to the Russian Tea, looking around angrily for Rory. She went up to the caterer and asked if Rory was there. No one had seen her. She had already made what seemed like 1,000 calls looking for Rory. As she decided to do a second check around the room to find her granddaughter, she got a call on her cell from the home phone number.

"Rory?" she asked.

"No Mrs. Gilmore" said her Portuguese maid. "It's Francisca. Your daughter and granddaughter are here."

"What is my daughter doing there?" Emily asked.

"They packing boxes." Francisca replied.

"What?" Emily said, gripping the phone.

"Granddaughter," said Francisca in her bad English. "Moving out."

Emily let go of her phone, and it fell into a tureen of Russian wine sauce.

Emily looked around and saw everyone staring at her. She had to get home before the girls were gone. With what dignity she had left, Emily walked out. But by the time she got home, the girls had already left. She then fired Francisca. The maid should have known to hold the girls off. Emily would call the maid service in the morning.


	18. Chapter 18 Lorelai hates What? No what

Chapter 18

"Sure, just yell, "stand up!" to the guy in the wheelchair," Lorelai said at what she felt was an impossibility of getting her arm unstuck. It hadn't been very comfortable having her pregnant belly squished up against the door. She was 6 months now. The baby was developing decently. The doctor had a feeling the baby would probably be less than 7 ½ pounds which meant it would weigh less than average. But the doctor estimated that Lucas Jr. wouldn't be any less than 6 ½. "This is all estimation," the doctor had said. She assumed that it was because of how thin Lorelai's genetics were. Rory had barely cleared 6 ½.

Luke handed his fiancé a glass of cider. Then, he asked her to listen. To what she had no idea. "I don't hear anything," she had said.

"Exactly," had been his reply. He was smiling like he'd just done something genius.

"Mom!" Rory's voiced called out.

"Ooh! I hear something!" Lorelai exclaimed, hopping once, cupping her hand by her ear.

"Well I didn't mean that," Luke told her

"What is it hon?" Lorelai asked. She loved being able to say that to her daughter again.

"Emily Gilmore has struck again!" Rory said aggravated. And she showed her mother the formal letter.

"Dear Lorelai Leigh Gilmore," it said. "Because your previous form of tuition payment was pulled out by Emily Jocelyn Gilmore and Richard Charles Gilmore, you will need to find another way to afford our tuition before you can return. Here enclosed are some possible scholarships you could receive."

"Well, they offered you some scholarships, that was nice," Luke said trying to make her feel better.

"They didn't offer them to me Luke," Rory corrected him. They merely said I had a chance to get these scholarships, but I don't!" Rory sat down on the couch supporting her check with her hand. "None of these scholarships want a drop out as one of their applicants."

"Don't say that," her mother told her. "Despite your setback you are a good student." Lorelai looked up at Luke and asked, "Do you have any ideas?"

"Well," Luke said scratching his head. "How much does Yale tuition cost?"

"A little less than 35,000 dollars," Rory told him. "Plus room and board, which is almost 10,000."

"And you don't want to visit the option of getting a loan?" Lorelai asked.

"Yeah, because that's worked out so well for us in the past," Rory claimed.

"I might be able to help you pay for some of it," Luke told them. "How much can you swing?" he asked Lorelai.

"Probably the room and board," Lorelai said sheepishly. Previously having 10,000 dollars had made Lorelai feel rich. Suddenly, she felt like she had the last time she needed to pay for something big. Poor, that's how she felt.

"At best, I can only afford 20,000," Luke said. Giving Lorelai 30,000 for the Inn had tapped his resources a bit.

"We could ask Dad," Rory started to say, but her mom interrupted her.

"No Rory, your father had back taxes up the wazoo," Lorelai said. Rory was silent for a moment, feeling guilty.

"Not anymore," Rory told them.

"What do you mean?" Lorelai asked.

"I wasn't going to say anything," Rory said. "But, Dad and I have been talking recently."

"There's nothing wrong with that," Lorelai told her, rubbing her daughter's shoulder. "Has it been good talking?"

"Pretty much," Rory answered. "Last time we talked, he told me some big news."

"About what?" Luke asked apprehensively.

"His grandfather died," Rory said.

"Oh," Lorelai said, she had thought it would have been something Luke would find threatening.

"Well he died, and he gave all his wealth to…Dad," Rory said, sort of shrinking into her shoulders.

"Whoa!" Lorelai said in amazement. She then looked up at Luke, who didn't have a look on his face that made Lorelai comfortable.

"He offered me a bunch of things that I didn't really need," Rory said. "I never imagined in my life actually asking anything from him."

"I'm sure he'd be happy to help you in whatever way he could," Lorelai tried to assure her daughter.

"He wanted to give you things too," Rory admitted. Luke sucked in a big breath and tensed his shoulders.

"Well I don't need anything from him," she directed at Rory. But she was saying it to Luke more than anyone else.

"I don't know, asking Dad for things or being involved with him at all can be dangerous," Rory claimed.

"You should ask him," Luke said, surprising the girls.

"Really?" Rory asked him, raising her eyebrow.

"It's not like you are going to be required to be that involved in his life if you take his money."

"Well Luke," Lorelai said. "She can't just run off with his money."

"I didn't mean that," Luke tried to convince her.

"Then what did you mean?" Rory asked. "I don't understand."

"Take the plunge," Luke said. "Ask him for help. If he really does want to offer you something, let it be that." He took a breath and looked down. "Just keep him away from…me." Keep him away from Lorelai was more like it.

"I don't know," Rory said, still not sure. "I mean, I don't want you guys to have to worry about money, you have the baby to worry about. But Dad…"

"Don't worry about that," Lorelai told him. "You should ask your father."

"He owes you," Luke said bluntly.

"Okay then…" Rory replied.

"So the house is done huh?" Lorelai asked Luke, looking around to inspect.

"Oh, yeah!" Luke said, holding out his hand to help Lorelai off the couch. "Let me show you something." He led Lorelai up the stairs.

"I'm sure you'll just love it," Rory said, in her joking tone that never registered to Luke's ears. That made Lorelai worry. What would she befall upstairs?

Oh god, she never thought she'd see anything so awful. In her beautiful room was the worst bedroom set in existence.

"Wow," Lorelai said, pretending to be impressed.

Luke went on and on about how this was his grandmother's bedroom set. Apparently Lorelai had told him she loved it some years ago. Lorelai thought she must have been joking. And she must have used Rory's joke tone. That's why Luke had thought she was serious. What was she going to do about this?

The next day at the diner, Rory and Lorelai were sitting at the counter during one of the mid morning lulls. This was the best time for them to eat. It was quiet which for some reason kept Lorelai's stomach more settled. And, they could talk about things without the gossip girls hearing.

But that lull changed their lives forever. Something (or someone) blew in from the east (Woodbridge) and gave Luke a surprise.

Luke was turned away from the front door, when it opened. He turned at the dinging of the bell to see, Anna Nardini. His ex girlfriend from 12 years ago.

"Anna," Luke said in surprise.

"Hello, Luke," she responded.

"Uh, hi," Lorelai said too. "You two know each other?"

"Dated. While back," Luke said in quick monosyllables. And he had been communicating so well all these months. Now he was back to caveman talk.

"Oh, well I'm Lorelai, Luke's fiancé," Lorelai said holding out her hand. She had to show she had a hold on Luke no one could break.

"You're expecting a child," Anna stated.

"Oh, yes we are," Lorelai said with pride. "Try stealing him back now," she thought.

"You're okay with that?" Anna asked in shock. It wasn't a judgmental shock, but rather a happy one.

"More than anything," Luke said easily. "Why?"

"Well," Anna said. "I have something to tell you, and it's going to be a little shocking. "

"What?" Lorelai said for Luke. What on earth could this ex be getting at?

"Almost 13 years ago," Anna explained. "I gave birth to your daughter."

Silence filled the already pretty quiet diner.

"What?" Was all Luke said.

"We're back to that again," Lorelai thought. Luke and his best friend, the word, 'what?'

* I ended up making this chapter more than 1,000 words, but I will try to keep it shorter next time. I've gotten more into describing things, that's what is making the chapters longer. Anyway, I appreciate you reading my story. I was able to get Rory back with Lorelai one episode sooner than the show had. One of my readers asked me to try to do that, so I did. Another reader asked me not to introduce to April and Christopher story lines, but I felt I needed them in the story somewhat. I will try to not make it so extreme, but at the moment only time will tell. Thank you for reading. -DD *


	19. Chapter 19 A lock from Luke

Chapter 19

Holy crap. This certainly put a damper on things. Luke had a daughter, a 12 year old no less. Her name was April. She had brown hair and brown eyes, glasses, and was very bright. Or at least that's how Anna described her.

"Can we speak privately?" Anna asked Luke. Luke looked at Lorelai and Rory. "We can stay down here," Anna said. Rory got up to go to Luke's apartment. Lorelai didn't move. Anna looked at Lorelai expectantly. "It would be easier if it could just be Luke and I," Anna told her.

"Mom," Rory said, holding out her hand to usher Lorelai up the stairs. Lorelai followed her, but when they got to Luke's door Lorelai stayed where she was. "Mom," Rory said again but quieter. Lorelai didn't say anything; she just stood up against the wall, and listened. It was silent down there for a while, but then Luke and Anna started talking.

"I know this is a weird way to tell you," Anna said. "But I couldn't think of any other way."

"Here's a way," Luke told her. "Telling me 13 years ago when your doctor confirmed it. Perfect time."

"I know, I'm sorry," Anna apologized. "I was going to, but I felt it would be pointless."

"Why?" Luke asked.

"You hate kids," Anna explained.

"Did you look that closely at my fiancée?" Luke asked.

"Oh please," Anna said. "You don't expect me to believe that bump under her short sleeve faux wrap was planned?"

"You didn't think that in 12 years I could have changed?" Luke asked her, avoiding answering her question.

"Possibly," she said. "But you are a hard one to budge," she justified.

"You still should have told me," Luke said. "Even if I didn't like kids I still would have been there for her."

"Well, sorry," Anna said, smiling with what he remembered as her, 'I know I just did something awful or ridiculous, but just forgive me no matter how much of a bitch I am' smile. "Quite a specific smile," he thought.

"What made you tell me now?" Luke asked her.

"April is doing a science fair project," Anna explained. "To figure out who her father is."

"You mean you don't even know?" Luke asked astonished. "How many possibilities could there be?"

"I slept with someone else soon after you and I broke up," Anna told him

Luke looked angry. To stop him from biting her head off she added, "But he has obesity running in his family. April eats junk constantly and rarely gains a pound."

"Well, with reasoning like that," Luke said sarcastically.

"I know she's yours," April told him. "The conception date my doctor estimated labeled you the only possible father."

"Estimated?" Luke questioned.

"What else do you want?" Anna asked.

"A DNA test," Luke told her.

"Perfect," Anna replied. "Because that's why I'm here. April's project requires hair samples from her 3 subjects."

"3?" Luke growled. How could there be a 3rd?

"My friend Rutger offered to participate," Anna explained. "April knows he's not a candidate, but she needed a 3rd."

"You're still friends with that mook?" Luke asked her. He never liked that guy.

"He and I have been best friends for a while," Anna said smiling. "The judges could easily believe he was a possible father."

"So you like that huh?" Luke asked. "Your daughter's science project painting you as a slut?"

"Our daughter," Anna corrected. "And this project will interest the judges."

"Always a competition with you," Luke said.

"If you can give me some of your hair I will be on my way," Anna said.

"Why isn't 'April' doing it?" Luke asked.

"Considering how rude you've been today," Anna explained, "I'd rather she was no where near you."

"Oh no," Luke said. "You can't just walk in here after nearly 13 years, throw this news at me, and then expect to walk out with a lock of my hair and not even let me meet this girl."

"I don't know if that's possible," Anna joked, looking at Luke's hair. You going bald buddy?" Luke was not interested in joking with her. "You want to meet her?" Anna asked.

"I've got the right," Luke argued.

"Okay," Anna said. "She and I will stop by tomorrow. Same time?"

"Sure," Luke said. He tried to look calm, but he was nervous. Anna started to leave, but she turned around to say one last thing.

"Your fiancée should have at least opened and closed your apartment door." Then she left.

"Damnit," Lorelai thought. She didn't want them to know she'd been listening.

"Come back on down Lorelai," Luke said. Lorelai came back down, nervous.

"So?" she asked him. "You're going to meet her tomorrow?"

"We still don't even know if she's mine," Luke told her.

"Still," was all Lorelai said. Rory came back down right at that moment. "Rory and I need to go…shopping." Lorelai wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. She wasn't mad at Luke, but she just couldn't be near him at the moment. He had a daughter. For all these years a copy of him had been walking around. The child in her womb would be his second child. What would happen if this April girl became a part of his life?

"Lorelai," Luke said as Lorelai started to walk out. "I won't let this get me down."

"Don't promise that," Lorelai told him. "You never know." And then, she and her daughter left the diner. They got in the car and started to drive to the mall. But halfway there Lorelai stopped at a red light, and began to cry.

"Mom, it will be okay," Rory said, placing her hand on her mom's shoulder.

"No it won't," Lorelai blubbered. She knew that she was probably over reacting. But, she had seen this before. Something was once again getting in the way of her being with the man she loved. It had happened with Christopher when Sherry had gotten pregnant, and now it was happening with Luke. "This always happens when I love someone," she said to herself. She felt this was definitely true.


	20. Chapter 20 Anna and Chris conflict duo

Chapter 20

Lorelai calmed down a bit after she had a good cry. She and Rory decided to just go home. They had a dinner to prepare for. Now that the house was completed, they were having Sookie and Jackson over.

Luke was still a little shocked. He could have a daughter, and he was meeting her tomorrow. He was in a daze for the rest of the day. He had promised Lorelai that this wouldn't get to him too bad, but it was. If it weren't for Lane being a very scheduled person while at work, he wouldn't have remembered that he and Lorelai were having dinner with friends that night.

He was able to be distracted by Jackson and his 'crazy' grilling methods. Unfortunately, he was not able to fool his fiancée. She knew the Anna thing was still bugging him, and that made it bug her. But, something involving her, managed to make her not look so good either.

Christopher called. The machine picked it up, but he called. Lorelai was screwed.

"Hey, Lor. Haven't said that in a while. Anyway, I hope you're good, I talked to Rory recently; she says she's good. Actually she's why I'm calling. She said she'd like me to help pay for Yale. I told her I'd love to, but I thought I'd run it by you." Lorelai took a deep breath, why was Christopher dragging her into this? To make matters worse, Luke walked in on the last part of the message.

"Any how," Christopher said on the recording, "I'd like to get together with you some time to talk about this."

"Talk about what?" Luke asked. Lorelai panicked and hit the mute button on the answering machine.

"Hey, how's the food coming? I'm starving," Lorelai tried to distract him.

"Talk about what?" Luke repeated.

"About, Rory's tuition." Lorelai told him. She wanted him to drop it.

"Why didn't you say that the first time I asked?" Luke asked her.

"I had food on my mind," Lorelai claimed.

"I'm gonna go to the kitchen," Sookie said, hurrying away from the fighting couple.

"Why'd you cut off the message?" Luke asked her, folding his arms in interrogation.

"Reflex," Lorelai said.

"Why is that your reflex?" Luke asked her, staring her down.

"I don't know," Lorelai told him.

"Right," Luke said, not really believing her. "We'll talk about this later."

"No," Lorelai called out. Luke raised his eyebrow at her. Lorelai got some confidence from her residual anger about Anna. "That call was seriously about Rory," she told him.

"We'll talk about this later," Luke repeated.

"Luke…" Lorelai said.

"Burgers are done," Luke said as he walked away. In Lorelai's mind, it seemed more like he was saying they (as a couple) were done.

"I've got to get a grip," she thought.

At dinner, Lorelai and Luke were sitting silently while Jackson went on and on about a funny experience he'd had at work. Sookie had filled Rory in on what had happened so they were sitting there awkwardly. Both were afraid that a fight would break out between Luke and Lorelai. Their fear proved to come into existence.

It all started with a food compliment.

"The dumplings are good too," Lorelai said. That caused her fiancé to snort. "Nice snort" she said snidely.

"I didn't snort," Luke argued.

"People in Kansas talk funny," Sookie said with a panicked laugh. She didn't like watching people fight.

Jackson took Lorelai and Luke's cold behavior to relate to the hamburgers. He dubbed himself 'Burger King.' Which gave Luke an opening to be snide.

"I can admit it," Luke said. "I have no trouble telling someone something no matter how uncomfortable it might make them."

"Wow. They'll be debating the subtle complexities of that comment for years," Lorelai said sarcastically.

"Okay I did miss something," Jackson said.

"Lorelai and Luke are fighting," Sookie explained.

"We're not fighting," Luke claimed.

No, we 'don't fight in front of company,'" Lorelai said.

"It's rude," Luke argued.

"No, we wouldn't want to be rude," Lorelai said, again sarcastically.

Luke tried to change the subject, but he was so mad that he made a big deal about the dumplings. The fight continued.

"I'm sorry, are we going to talk about this now?" Lorelai asked her irate fiancé.

"You knew how I'd feel about it," Luke said.

"And you have absolutely no reason to be upset."

"I don't you were hiding it."

"I wasn't hiding anything…"

You hung up the phone just as I came…"

"You didn't let me explain, I was about to tell you what happened…"

"No, at that moment it was not appropriate to talk about it…"

"So you'd rather just sit and stew and be mad for no reason?" Lorelai asked. Both of them had barely been able to finish a sentence before the other person interrupted them.

"So, it was just a weird coincidence that I walk in just as Christopher happens to be leaving a message, and it's the first time you've heard from him, in a month!" Luke accused.

"In a year Luke!" Lorelai tried to convince him. "The last time I saw him was the last time you saw him."

"Well I don't believe in coincidences," Luke said infuriated.

"This is not fair!" Lorelai said, which reminded her of her teenage years.

"I have a right to expect a little honesty from my fiancée!" he yelled.

"Oh yeah a 'right' that's one of your favorite things to claim these days," Lorelai accused.

"Oh where is that coming from?" Luke asked angrily.

"What the hell is with that Anna woman showing up out of the blue?" Lorelai asked. She knew perfectly well why, but she was so angry and her head was buried so deep in this fight, she couldn't stop herself.

"You know damn right why she came!" Luke told her. 

"You think you have a right to be upset about Christopher?" Lorelai asked him. "Well I have a right to be upset about Anna." She tried to calm down. "That's how feelings work."

"Well you can sleep with your feelings tonight," Luke told her angrily. "I'm gone!"

"Oh my god, enjoy Wisteria Lane you major drama queen," Lorelai said, her sarcasm back and better than ever. "Wrap yourself in a towel and trip over a hedge on your way out!" Luke slammed the door. Lorelai looked down at her food, trying to calm down for her company.

"Are you okay?" Sookie asked.

"I'm fine," Lorelai told them. "I'm sorry you guys."

"Mom, I'm sorry," Rory told her. "I should have told Dad to leave you out of this."

"It's okay," Lorelai told Rory. She looked at everyone and said, "This has been a hard day for he and I. It will get better." Whether she personally believed that or not, she wasn't sure.

Little did she know that when Luke stormed outside, the minute he was off the porch, he regretted what had happened. He wanted to turn back around and go talk to her, but he knew they both needed space.

* Again, thank you for all the reviews, and for following my story. I really appreciate it. I've been sick lately, which is why I've had so much time to write. The praise you've given me has helped motivate me. Thank you. –DD *


	21. Chapter 21 Therapy

Chapter 21

Luke knew that he needed to work on his temper. And he needed to learn not to storm off whenever things got bad. In his relationship history, whenever things got hard, he generally just ended the relationship. He personally didn't title himself a commitaphobe. But when things got difficult or serious he usually closed up.

Like any person, he hated complicated things. But his relationship with Lorelai was the definition of complicated. They wanted to get married, and they had a baby on the way. The two biggest commitments in existence, you didn't just do them lightly. But, Luke had far too long of a track record when it came to avoiding things or quitting when it got tough. When it came to whom he dated anyway. He didn't quit on Jess until there was nothing left for him to do. He never gave up on the diner. But, he wasn't in love with either of those situations. He was in love with Lorelai.

In a roundabout way he had confronted the problem at hand. He had made it clear how he felt about his fiancée being in contact with her ex. Christopher had always been a problem. He had broken them up before. Sure, Luke is the one who decided to break up with Lorelai, refusing to believe that she was honestly dedicated to him.

But despite what Christopher and Emily had done to get them to split up, Luke knew that it was he who really made them break-up. If he had any of the confidence Lorelai had, they would never have broken up after the vow renewal. He was an insecure man, as much as he hated to admit it.

He wanted to believe he'd done the right thing by telling Lorelai how he felt about Christopher being in contact with her. But yelling at her had been the worst way to express it. Doing it in front of company had definitely been the wrong way to do it. "Another thing to add to the list of things that was wrong with me," he thought. Not only insecure, but volatile as well.

He also liked to brood. Generally when he had seen other people feel sorry for themselves, he'd either told them to knock it off, or he'd tried to convince them that things could get better. He knew he was a hypocrite. He hated people who acted all, "woe is me" all the time. But he did it a lot too. He wondered why Lorelai tolerated it. Love?

Lorelai walked into his apartment while he was stewing. She'd been right about him once again. He did like to sit and stew and be mad, sometimes for no reason. She was carrying a covered tray. She'd brought him something to eat.

"Once we're married," she told him. "You're not going to be able to run any to your club house any more. Going to have to join a rotisserie baseball league, with the rest of the men. "

"When we're married huh?" he asked. "Gee, when's that gonna be?"

"Well," Lorelai said, she was as vulnerable as he was at the moment.

"We got Rory back, so now what's the hold up?" he asked. He didn't mean to take pot shots or act even more sorry for himself. But he was doing what he did best, avoiding things.

"After the baby is born," Lorelai finally answered. "You can't blame me for waiting till I have my figure back can you?"

"You look fine to me," Luke told her. Not trying to flatter her or be sweet, he was just being honest. He didn't care what her body looked like.

"Don't you want to wait until you have the whole Anna thing settled before tying the knot?" Lorelai asked him. She didn't want to bring that woman up, but she felt she had to.

"Why does she matter?" Luke asked. He wasn't being very receptive that night. He was still stewing.

"Her child might be yours," Lorelai said. "If she is, don't you want her there?"

"I don't know," Luke said.

"You're conflicted," Lorelai stated. "They say you shouldn't get married or make any life altering decision when stressed, conflicted, or mourning."

"Are you saying you don't want to get married?" Luke asked, still not looking up at her.

"Of course I want to get married," Lorelai said sitting down. "I love you."

"Then lets get married already," Luke growled, unintentionally kicking the footrest.

"How can I marry someone who won't even look at me?" Lorelai asked. That made it really hard for Luke to look at her then. He was being silly. Yes he had a right to be upset, but he shouldn't be treating her like he was. He looked up at her, and told her how he was feeling, calmly that time.

"I'm never gonna be okay with Christopher being in your life."

"I'm always going to have Christopher in my life," Lorelai told him.

"Yeah," Luke conceded. He could hate it as much as he wanted, but he knew she was right.

"He is Rory's father. I can't change that," Lorelai stated. If only she could. He wished he were Rory's father. He'd certainly been more of one to her than Christopher had. "Today was the first day I heard Christopher's voice in a year and I would have told you," Lorelai said honestly. Luke tried to believe her. She wouldn't lie about this. But he hated Christopher so much that his insecurities made it hard to believe that Christopher wasn't trying to steal his girl.

"We can't hide things from each other," Luke said to her.

"I know," Lorelai agreed.

"I'm not going to like when Christopher calls, but we have to tell each other everything."

"Agreed."

"That's the only way this is going to work."

"If I hadn't been there when Anna showed up," Lorelai asked Luke. "Would you have told me immediately about April?"

"Yeah," Luke said. But then he realized he might not have. Not immediately any way. He didn't always keep people up to date quickly. He often waited too long. He waited until he was absolutely ready to tell people, which was often too late. He usually took a long time to be comfortable with things. His pining for Lorelai before he finally shared his feelings proved that.

"So, speaking of your clubhouse," Lorelai said. "When do you want to move in to my place?"

"Haven't I already?" Luke asked.

"Uh," Lorelai said looking around the room, seeing how much of his stuff was in there. "No."

"I stay nights," Luke argued. "I cook meals."

"Yeah but most of your clothes and personal stuff is here," Lorelai stated. "And you keep borrowing my tooth brush," she said disgusted. "That's gotta stop," she joked.

"Yeah you're right," Luke conceded again. Lorelai was far better at winning arguments than he was.

"So, you want to move in?" Lorelai asked him again.

"Until a few minutes ago I thought I already was living in your house." Luke stated.

"Dude, come on," Lorelai argued. "If a stranger walked into my house, he'd know in a second that only girls lived there."

"What?" Luke said, feeling she was absurd. "The walls aren't pink or anything."

"Are you saying you enjoy the Hello Kitty and Spice Girl memorabilia?" Lorelai asked.

"I hardly notice it," Luke said. "I'm used to your junk."

"Hey!" Lorelai said in mock offensiveness. "Coming from the guy with a singing, "Be Happy" mounted bass?"

"A singing bass whose batteries have mysteriously disappeared," Luke argued to a guilty looking Lorelai at the words. "Can't imagine where they went off to."

"Battery therapy," Lorelai cutely replied. " They needed someone to talk to after being abused and used for such a tasteless reason." She laughed at her own joke.

"Is your Betty Boop vase in that therapy session too?" Luke joked.

"She's in therapy from the constant mocking she's had to endure," Lorelai continued their bit. They both laughed. And soon, Lorelai was in Luke's lap, they were in a loving embrace, and all the problems they'd been dealing with had been forgotten.

The next morning Luke and Lorelai woke up in Luke's apartment.

"Whoops," Lorelai said. "We forgot to go home."

"Who's going to scold us?" Luke asked.

Just at that moment, Lorelai got a call on her cell phone from Rory.

"Been out late young lady?" her daughter joked in mock disapproval.

"Sorry…." Lorelai said pretending to be guilty.

"When you get home missy, you gots some splanning to doo!" Rory said in her best Ricky Ricardo voice.

"Bshhhiiizzzz bshhizzzz, sorry I'm going through a tunnel!" Lorelai pretended, as Luke started to romance her. "Gotta go!" She yelled into the phone that Luke was trying to get out of her hand.

The phone got disconnected. Rory just shook her head and laughed.

*Sorry I haven't updated in 2 days. I was really tired. It is my goal to write daily. I will keep it up. Again, I appreciate you reading, and I like the reviews.


	22. Chapter 22 Awkward

Chapter 22

Luke waited at the diner in anticipation. He'd asked Lorelai to stay away for this. He'd be meeting his daughter today, if she really was his. From what he remembered of Anna, she wasn't gutsy enough to face him if she wasn't certain she knew he was the right one. But the fact that it had taken her nearly 13 years to tell him, made him think she wasn't sure if he was the father. Conflicted. Again.

Every time the door opened Luke would look up, only to find one of the usual customers entering. Since he looked expectant or anxious every time, his customers took it as him being nervous about his service. So they generally smiled at him or gave him a thumbs up. That got very annoying.

When Anna finally entered the diner, Luke was so used to it not being her that he had his usual aggravated look on his face. Which made Anna uneasy, which sort of screwed things up for him. Upon realizing it was her and not a SH citizen, he changed his face.

"You look happy," Anna joked.

"Sorry," Luke said.

"April is in the car," Anna told her. Luke gave Anna a, "Why?" look. "She's waiting for me to single her in." Anna gave Luke the once over. "Can you handle it?"

"Yeah, of course," Luke replied. Anna waved to the volkswagon parked on the curb. A pale bespectacled girl with chocolate brown bushy hair walked out. She was carrying a sample jar in one hand, a camera in the other. She looked very serious. Scientific. But it could be a poker face. Anna always had a good poker face.

"Hello," April said, in a slightly nasal, yet intelligent sounding voice. Intelligent. Precise. "I'm April."

"I'm Luke," Luke said.

"I figured," April replied. It wasn't in a "duh" tone like most teens Luke dealed with. But she was showing him that she wasn't slow. She probably was a lot faster to respond and recover than he was. Anna was rarely stunned either. Luke couldn't imagine what about him April took after. Until she started sniffing the air, she had his nose.

"Something's burning," she told him.

"Oh, yeah…Cesar!" Luke called.

"I got it!" Cesar called back.

"That better not be my burger!" Kirk yelled out. "I have very specific burger specifications: not burned."

"Can it Trekkie!" Cesar called him.

"Sorry about that," Luke said, turning away from his kitchen. "So, what's up?"

"I need your hair," April said. Apparently she wasn't interested in conversation.

"Oh," Luke said. He reached for his head, and then put his hand down. "I could get my comb from upstairs?"

"I need definite roots," April explained. And before Luke knew it, April had reached for his head and had ripped out some of his hair.

"Yow!" Luke said at the pain.

"Thank you," April told him, snapping a photo of him. She seemed sort of oblivious. Or maybe she was just so scientific that human emotion or pain didn't register to her. Luke was oblivious sometimes. Maybe that's what she got from him. Except she was smart, really smart. He'd never been a scholar.

"So, is that all you need?" Luke asked.

"Yep," April said, looking at the hair sample. She didn't even look at him. They started to leave when Luke asked them,

"Hey, do you guys want lunch?" Anna turned to look at him, April looked at her mom.

"We're good," Anna said.

"Uh, do you want to, talk?" Luke asked.

"Well," Anna said, looking at April for her opinion. But Luke knew Anna well enough to know that in the end, it would be her decision, not her daughter's. Or anyone else's.

Anna said the typical, "Maybe some other time." But at that same time, April shrugged and said, "Sure." She still hadn't looked up at him.

"Okay…" Luke said. He never thought they'd agree to it. "I'll go make some…burgers?" he asked them.

"Sounds good," April said. Then she looked up at him. Luke felt he could sense some nervousness.

"Go ahead and sit down," Luke told them. Anna and April chose one of the off center, what Lorelai would call, "Loser mini tables." Close quarters. Luke had some burgers over in a few minutes. They sat in silence for a bit.

"So, how's school?" Luke asked awkwardly. That question usually worked on Rory. But, unlike Anna, Lorelai never rolled her eyes.

Luke hadn't decided whether or not he hoped the DNA tests said he was the father. He couldn't get a clear enough read on April. She was a wall. She was a lot like him.

* Yes this chapter is a tad short. But I wanted this chapter shorter so you could focus just on Luke. Thanks for reading. –DD *


	23. Chapter 23 Hypocrisy

Chapter 23

"Lorelai," Richard blurted on the phone. "Your mother is missing!"

"What?" Lorelai said in shock. She hadn't been expecting her dad to call.

"I came home from Seattle, and she wasn't here," Richard told her. "The bed doesn't look like it's been slept in."

"You have maids Dad, they probably made the bed," Lorelai tried to make him realize.

"No your mother fired the maid," Richard told her.

"Probably the one who'd seen Rory move out," Lorelai thought.

"As far as I know another one hasn't been hired yet. Plus I haven't heard from her in days. I had a couple calls yesterday. But they were fuzzy. When I asked her where Rory was, she said, 'how the hell should I know.'? So apparently, Rory is missing too!" Richard was frantic.

"Rory's not missing," Lorelai told him. "She moved out."

"She did?" Richard said astonished.

"Yes, she's home," Lorelai said.

"Home? Home where?" Richard asked.

"Um, my home?" Lorelai said. What other home could it be?

"But…" Richard started to ask.

"She's going back to school," Lorelai said.

"She is?" Richard was excited for one second.

"Yep, she came home and I've been helping her get back to school"

"Well, that's good," Richard said, still worried about Emily. "Tell me when you need our involvement. But in the mean time," he said, "help me find your mother!"

"Okay I will," Lorelai promised.

"Don't be smart!" Richard scolded. He was too upset to realize his daughter's sincerity.

"I'm not being smart! If I hear anything I'll call!" Lorelai said honestly into the phone.

"Fine," Richard replied, very shaken. With trembling hands he hit disconnect.

"What's wrong?" Sookie asked when Lorelai came into the kitchen looking upset.

"My mother is missing," Lorelai told her.

"What?" Sookie said shocked.

"I don't know!" Lorelai said exasperated. "First she leaves us on our own to pay for Yale, and now no one can find her. I don't know what's wrong with her. "

"She's probably upset about Rory moving out," Sookie said.

"But she moved out to go back to school, that was what we were aiming for," Lorelai argued. "Did she really want Rory's whole life to be the DAR? What decade are we living in?"

"You know your mother is a complicated person," Sookie said. "Maybe something else is bothering her."

"I don't know," Lorelai said again. "We've got to find her," she said dialing her mother's number on her phone. "Hi Mom, it's Lorelai," she said to her mother's answering machine. "You've got to call me when you get this message. Okay, Dad is frantic and we don't know where you are, so just call my cell as soon as possible. We want to know that everything is okay."

On her way home, Lorelai finally got a call from her mother.

"Mom, thank god," Lorelai said. "Have you called Dad?" The other end was fuzzy. "Where are you? What? What are you…" Lorelai heard her mother say airport. She decided to just go there herself; she could barely hear her mother on the phone. "Okay, just stay there Mom. Now, what was the hangar number again?"

"I'm in the cock pit," Emily called out when Lorelai entered the jet.

"Add that to the list of things I never thought I'd hear my mother say," Lorelai said under her breath.

"Well hello Lorelai, what are you doing here?" her mother asked, not looking at Lorelai.

"Oh I was just in the neighborhood you know, what are you doing here?" Lorelai asked. She'd talked to her mother on the phone looking for her. Why else did her mother think she was there?

Lorelai worked to get out of her mother what on earth she was doing in a plane. Finally they got around to the real problem. Emily was upset about Rory leaving, so she had completely shut down.

"You don't need a plane Mom," Lorelai told her mother, being the voice of reason.

"Well you and Luke can borrow it sometime," Emily said. She still was avoiding eye contact. "Up to Maine for lobster, down to Florida for some sun. Your baby could be born in another country, wouldn't that be fun?"

"Mom," Lorelai said, the voice of reason ringing out once again. "You can't buy a plane."

"Why not? I can afford it," Emily argued.

"The last time I saw you doing some irrational shopping, you were upset about something," Lorelai reminded her. "Buying this plane would be foolish."

"It's a time share!" Emily said aggravated.

"That's silly too," Lorelai told her.

"I am tired of all this," Emily said. "I'm tired of your attitude towards me, you look at me as a thing of amusement."

"I don't" Lorelai claimed.

Emily continued to reduce her daughter to a cruel and heartless person. Never mind that Emily often acted like that as well. She went on to claim that everything was her fault, but she only did that to hear Lorelai say it wasn't true. It wasn't true really.

"She looked at me just like you used to," Emily said, getting teary eyed. "With that, defiant, 'who are you to be telling me what to do' sort of look. Then she left. You packed her up and moved her out before I could even see her go. No thank you no good bye. It happened when she was a baby and it happened now."

Lorelai tried to convince her mother that this wasn't the same. But she knew there were some similarities that couldn't be ignored.

"You didn't lose Rory like you lost me," Lorelai told Emily before she headed out. "She was never supposed to be there in the first place, she was always supposed to be at school. She just went back, where she belonged." And as Lorelai started to leave she added, "and you didn't lose me."

Emily was ready to weep. But, when Lorelai had successfully made it down the stairs with her big belly, Emily hung out the door to ask one last tearful thing.

"How much of your son's life are you going to keep me out of before finally letting me in?"

"You won't miss any of his life," Lorelai said looking up. "Unless you choose to." Lorelai officially walked away. Emily went back into the plane, fell onto her knees, and finally cried the tears she'd been holding in.

*This chapter was just about one little thing, because it already was longer than 1,000 words. I didn't want it any longer than that. There might be some more chapters in the future that are single subjected. But I'm going to try to have my longer chapters have more in them. Thank you for reading. I appreciate reviews, keep them coming. Actually, he's a question for all of you: Do you think naming the baby Lucas Jr. is a good idea? I've been writing this story in my head since I was 13, I'm just really attached to the name I chose back then (6 years ago). What do you all think? Is the name I chose far too common in fan fiction?


	24. Chapter 24 Potatoes

Chapter 24

Luke hadn't been contacted by April or Anna about the DNA test. Was he the father or not? Didn't he have the right to know no matter the result? He didn't know how the tests came out. But he did know when the science fair was. Today.

Luke entered the Gymnasium/Auditorium of April's middle school. He wandered around sort of aimlessly; there were a lot of student projects there. He tried to make it seem like he was interested in what was around him. He didn't want some busy body mom to report him to security for looking, "suspicious."

He finally found her project. The top of her tri fold poster board had 3 enlarged photos. 2 photos had slashes through them. 1 was circled. Luke's was circled. He was the father.

"Hi?" April said in question. She seemed to have no idea why Luke was there. She didn't understand why her father had shown up to this. "What are you doing here?" She was much like her mother in that way. They both had the thought process, 'If I wouldn't do it why would you?'

Luke rambled about the amazing potato clock for a minute, then he got down to why he really was there.

"So, I guess…" Luke said, pointing at his photo and her findings.

"Yeah," April replied. "It's you." She seemed a little more understanding of why he was there now. Her scientific mind just had taken longer to factor in the emotional reason why Luke would be there.

"And you're sure," Luke said. Could she not be?

"Absolutely," April replied.

She then showed him her report; he didn't understand any of it. He rambled a bit, and she followed along to the best of her ability. He took a minute to sit down, to process as much as he could. April seemed far more okay with all this than her father did.

"This doesn't have to mean anything Mr. Danes," she told him.

"Luke," he told her to call him. He figured it was too early for her to call him dad. Possibly too late.

"I know this is a lot to process, Mom wishes she'd told you," April told him. Luke didn't believe that last half.

"You can go back to your life," April said. "You and your fiancée won't be bothered by us again."

"What?" Luke said. "Is that what you want?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess," April shrugged. Either this wasn't affecting her emotionally at all, or her poker face was really good.

"I mean, this…" Luke said, slowly shaking his head as if he was coming out of a daze. "This isn't something people should just walk away from, you know?"

"I'm fine," April said. "You and your fiancée can go back to what it was before."

"I can't abandon you," Luke tried to reason with her. Was there any point to that?

"I'm not abandoned, I have mom," April said. She was taking it in the true sense of the word.

"Well…" Luke said. What was he supposed to do? If April didn't want him in her life, shouldn't he abide by that? Was it all up to her? It didn't seem like she'd done this project to find the daddy she never had. Did he just leave?

"You're sure?" he asked.

"Positive," she replied.

"Okay then…" Luke started to lean and back step in the direction of the door. "If you need anything, you can…"

"I know how to find you," April said. "But I doubt I'll call." What she said stabbed Luke. He knew she was probably just a very scientific non-emotional person. Maybe she was tactless? She was only 12.

"See ya," he said. Looking at his biological daughter for what may be the last time.

"Hmm hmm," April said, looking back down at her book. Luke left the school in a daze. He wished he'd never come down at all. He wished April had never contacted him. He couldn't just forget about this. And probably neither, would Lorelai. What was he going to tell her?


	25. Chapter 25 Make em laugh

Chapter 25

"Where are you going looking like a million bucks?" Rory asked Lorelai when she saw her mother in a new cute maternity outfit that somehow slimed her down to look like 4 months instead of 6.

Lorelai was silent; she'd hoped to get out of the house before Rory saw her.

"I'm going to see your Dad," she told Rory.

"Why?" Rory asked, concerned.

"He wanted to talk about your school payments," Lorelai replied.

"Couldn't you have done that over the phone?" Rory asked.

"He wanted to see me in person," Lorelai told her.

"I'm coming with you," Rory said, immediately grabbing her purse.

"Rory, no…" Lorelai said.

"It's not safe for you and Dad to be alone," Rory said. Lorelai just rolled her eyes and waved her hand.

"He's not armed and dangerous or anything," she said, defending Christopher, uncharacteristically.

"What happens when he sees you're pregnant?" Rory asked. "Or when he finds out you're engaged?"

Lorelai was stunned.

"Didn't you already tell him?" she asked her daughter.

"Um no," Rory said, astonished her mother was clueless as to why. "Telling him seemed about as smart as pushing the big red button."

"Well, he would have found out eventually," Lorelai said, grabbing a different jacket than she'd previously had on.

"And that's why you are wearing your invisible baby jacket?" Rory asked. The jacket in question had an amazing ability to make a pregnant belly just seem overweight.

"To ease him into things," Lorelai argued.

"Okay then," Rory said, still unsure. "Are you sure you don't want me in the vicinity? For backup?"

"No Hutch, I'm going solo on this one," Lorelai said. She had to throw a reference in there. Cop humor must not go ignored. Especially since her own daughter was in the system.

"If he hurts you or does anything…" Rory began to say.

"I know, I know," Lorelai stopped her. "You're friend Liza will murder him."

"She wasn't arrested for that," Rory said.

"Then what was she arrested for?"

"Smoking inside a building," Rory said.

"Once?"

"Too many times for the hospital to ignore."

"A hospital?" Lorelai said shocked.

"Well technically she wasn't in the building, but she was on the premises," Rory corrected. "That hospital was a prided smoke free campus, the law was on their side."

"Community service for being a black lung," Lorelai said, heading out the door. "Gee can't imagine what you'd get for drinking alcohol near a Toys R' Us."

"Lorelai, over here," Christopher called out. Lorelai almost didn't recognize him. Last time she'd seen him he'd been angry-drunk. That image of him had been burned into her corneas for a year.

"I snagged us the best table in the house," Chris said, in reference to the cutesy diner that Lorelai had tons of insults already written for. She'd chosen this place because she figured it would be the last place Christopher would try anything stupid. Cops frequented this place.

"Slipped the guy a buck?" Lorelai joked.

"And even gave him 50 cents change," Chris joked back. He hugged Lorelai and she allowed it. She had no reason to refuse it. She had faith in him. Unfortunately, she realized too late, that now he could probably tell she was pregnant.

"Wait a minute," Christopher said, realization crossing his face.

"Uh…" Lorelai said, backing up a step. But Christopher's face turned to rejoice.

"You're pregnant!" he said surprisingly excited. "I can't believe this!" His hand hovered over her belly. "How far along are you like, 4-5 months?"

"6 actually," Lorelai told him.

"That's amazing!" he said, pulling out her chair for her. He sat down with the goofiest grin on his face. "How'd this happen?"

"Well," Lorelai said in almost convincing seriousness. "When two people get together in the closest way…."

"Oh I knew you'd do that," Chris laughed. "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"A boy," Lorelai told him.

"Lorelai Gilmore with a son," Chris said marveling. "This I got to see."

"What? You don't think I can handle it?" Lorelai betted him.

"Last time I saw you with a baby boy, the mother asked you to change his diaper, and you got peed on!" Christopher said laughing.

"I was 12!" Lorelai said, trying to hide the fact that this still embarrassed her.

"Bam! He got you right in the chest!" Chris said, slapping the table with his hand during his laugh.

"Well while you're being so charming," Lorelai said, "can we get to the matter at hand?"

"Yeah sure," Chris said, trying to contain his laughter. "No problem." Lorelai still wasn't sure he'd gotten control of himself, but she decided to move on.

"You wanted to talk about Rory?" she asked.

Christopher's face fell for a second, time to be serious now.

"Yeah," he began to say. "Basically I wanted to go over things with you."

"Rory told you I was fine with the arrangement," Lorelai said.

"I know…" Christopher said. "I just thought that it would be the adult thing to do to talk to you myself about this."

"Rory was fine being the go between," Lorelai said. "This really is meant to stay between the two of you."

Christopher groaned.

"Is it crazy that I wanted to see you?" he asked.

"No," Lorelai said. "It's not."

"Look," he said. "I know that the last time we saw each other, wasn't the prettiest. But, it's different now. I'm sober, I'm rational, and I'm not the guy I was that night."

"I want to believe that," Lorelai said.

"Why can't you?" Christopher asked.

"Because that's not the first time you've acted that way," she said.

"That was my past," he said. "In the present I'm a good guy."

"Okay then," Lorelai said. She knew Christopher would never fully see that rude and irrational jerk ran through his blood. She knew it was best not to talk about it further.

They talked a bit about how Christopher got all the money. Halfway through lunch Lorelai got a text from Rory, asking if she wanted her to stop by. Rory was in the vicinity. She hadn't trusted her dad.

With Rory there, Lorelai and Christopher talking about Yale was less awkward. Rory ended up having to leave the room to answer a call from the Stamford Eagle Gazette, but she tried not to stay away long.

Christopher ended up asking Lorelai about Emily and Richard. Lorelai just said it was complicated. After that was out of the way, Christopher took another plunge, and asked her something else serious.

"So how long have you been engaged?" Christopher asked.

"Who told you?" Lorelai asked, taking a deep breath.

"Your finger," Chris laughed.

"Oh, blabbermouth," Lorelai joked, talking to her finger.

"It's a good thing, I want you happy," he said. "But this isn't going to be a weird thing with him is it?"

"No it's not going to be," Lorelai replied.

"I'm going to assume its Luke, right?" he asked. "I wasn't sure,"

"Yes, it's Luke." Lorelai told him.

"And he's the father…"

"Of course he is!" Lorelai said. How dare Christopher think otherwise? But Christopher was smiling. He'd been joking. "You jerk!" she said annoyed, smacking his shoulder. That made him laugh, and her laugh too.

The Christopher thing seemed to go well. Both Lorelai and Rory were comfortable. Later on was Thanksgiving at the Dragonfly. When Lorelai was taking Luke to the kitchen to carve the turkey, she told him about what happened with Christopher. He seemed surprisingly okay with it. "He's her Dad," he had said. "He's doing what a Dad should be doing." That prompted Lorelai to ask Luke about April.

"Did you hear back about the DNA testing?" she asked. What was he going to tell her? If she knew he was the father, but he wasn't going to be involved, she would tell him he had to. She might not like the situation, but she'd say that it was important for him to not run away from his responsibilities. So he lied.

"She said she'd contact me if the tests came out positive," he said.

"Oh," she said. "So since she never called you that means…"

"I'm off the hook," he told her. Technically that was true. He just wasn't off the hook in the way that Lorelai thought he meant.

"I bet all that supposed junk food eating will catch up with that girl then," Lorelai said. "If her Dad's family has so many weight problems.

"Yeah I guess," Luke said, he really didn't want to talk about this any more.

"She definitely couldn't have been yours," Lorelai said. "With no desire to eat like a health nut?"

Luke laughed with her, but he really wasn't into it. He was April's father. And he wanted to be in her life. And he had to find a way.

After Sookie kicked him out of the kitchen, he used the Dragonfly phone to call April. But when he got her answering machine, he hung up. He didn't want to beg for parental rights over the answering machine. And worse, since he'd lied to Lorelai, how was he going to get around her while trying to get to know his kid? He was in trouble. Big, monumental trouble.


	26. Chapter 26 Falling into place

Chapter 26

Rory was a little down in the dumps. Apparently, she and Logan had had some misunderstood signals when they'd had their big fight the night Jess had been in town. Rory, who felt she was far more experienced when it came to boy/girlfriend relationships, thought they'd just been taking some time off. But Logan, who was used to flings and friends with benefits, thought their fight had signified them breaking up. And how did Rory find out about this lovely thing? Through Logan's condescending sister.

Lorelai wanted to do her best to cheer Rory up. She reminded Rory about their 21st birthday bash plans. But they realized soon enough that their plan would be completely out of the question now that Lorelai was pregnant. But, because Lorelai was obviously the surrogate daughter of cluelessness (making her invention), she devised a new plan.

She with the help of Stars Hollows' main women: Sookie, Miss Patty, Babette, Gypsy, and Lulu, made a all weekend Poker bash happen, in Babette's living room. Kirk had immediately offered his services as dealer. Most of the group objected, but Lulu refused to take part without him.

After a weekend of poker-black jack madness (where they had used monopoly money until Gypsy had won it all, and then they pawned off dares, truths, and random junk from their purses and pockets) Lorelai and Rory finally reunited with Luke.

"Oh my god, look who's back!" Lorelai said in a high-pitched voice.

"Why I believe it's those adorable Gilmore Girls," Rory answered. Unlike her mother, she'd been able to drink alcohol. So she was still a little beschwipst. Lorelai was just schnockered on life.

"My how we have missed them," Lorelai said enjoying her bit.

"I hear they're different now, a little sad,"

"A little broke," Lorelai said, turning to Luke.

"Don't you two believe in sleeping?" Luke asked

"No way," Lorelai said. "We are still flying on the monopoly poker buzz!" She kissed Luke. She asked him how he'd been since she'd been gone, 'so long.' She then apologized for a loopy late night phone call she'd made to him.

"I didn't get a loopy late night phone call from you," Luke told her.

"Uh…anyway," Lorelai said, changing the subject. Luke couldn't imagine what idiot she'd actually called.

Then to make this situation funnier, after telling Luke about the fun they'd had with the girls, they showed him something really silly. It was a photo, of Kirk dressed up like Luke. He had a backwards baseball cap, and he was wearing a plaid flannel shirt (that Luke knew came from his own closet). To add insult to this crime that was what people thought Luke looked like, Kirk had a 5 o'clock shadow drawn on his face with marker. In the photo he was posing with Lorelai and Rory. Rory was just smiling; Lorelai on the other hand, was making an inappropriate face.

"And you weren't even drunk, what made you do that?" Luke had asked.

"You know what's even funnier than this," Lorelai said, ignoring Luke. "By the end of the weekend, Kirk had a real 5 o'clock shadow. Did you know he could grow facial hair?"

"This is sick," Luke said, putting the photo face down. He walked away to go work on the girl's breakfast.

"He missed us," Lorelai said.

"Definitely," Rory agreed. They both picked up the photo, and began to laugh about it some more.

"Mom, I have to go!" Rory called out. It was time; she was finally going back to school. It was paid for, she had a place to live, and her community service was done. No more impediments.

"Hold on wait, I'm coming," Lorelai yelled. She waddled down the stairs after Rory. She was almost 8 months along; snail speed was fast for her. "Here's sustenance for the road!"

"For the very long 30 minute drive back to school? Thank God I don't think I would have made it," Rory said sarcastically.

"Hey, if I were you I would need it," Lorelai defended herself.

"I'm not carrying a baby inside me, I'm tougher," Rory said.

"So," Lorelai said, annoyed, "do you got everything you need Miss Roughing-it-out?"

"I think so," Rory said. She ended up finding her community service vest still in her possession, and true to her personality she freaked out about it. With the promise that it would be safely returned to the government, she was ready to be on her way.

Watching Rory go back to school made Lorelai feel like she did when Rory went to kindergarten. She watched her little girl go off, and then she had to call Babette's husband Morey to chase down Paul Anka because he'd run after Rory's car. Lorelai couldn't move as fast as he could. She had about the walk speed of a toddler. Apparently Morey was no match for Paul Anka either. It in the end was Andrew who caught him, digging in his flower patch.

Later that day Lorelai was at the diner with Sookie. After months and months of waiting, she finally was planning her wedding. She'd been waiting forever for it. She hadn't allowed herself to plan one smidgen of it even in her head. Because of that, she had no idea what she wanted. Planning this wedding became extremely hard.

Her wedding with Max hadn't been hard to plan. It had been easy, a simple wedding. But this was different. She actually loved Luke. She wanted this wedding to be perfect; it would be her only one.

Sookie asked her several questions about cake, and colors, and dresses. Lorelai mostly gave humorous noncommittal responses. When the wedding dress came up, Lorelai got a little depressed.

"I'm the size of a house," she said to Sookie. "Buying a wedding dress now would just hurt."

"You'll have your figure back by the time you wed," Sookie told her. "And you are not the size of a house, I was the size of a house."

"You were not," Lorelai argued.

"Was too!" Sookie fought back.

"Was not!" Lorelai said. They had a staring match for about 5 seconds, and then they laughed.

Luke then came up, trying to get the table back from them. He was scolded by Sookie, and then thoroughly reminded about what they were doing, and who Sookie was. "BFOTB!" she yelled.

Despite Lorelai not having definitive plans about her wedding, Sookie took her to the shopping district and made her window shop. They ended up passing a wedding dress shop. Lorelai wanted to run away as quickly as her huge belly would let her (there was no way this baby wouldn't clear 7 pounds). But Sookie made her go in.

"Their gonna look at us funny!" Lorelai said, scared. A pregnant woman walking into a bridal shop would get massive stares. They'd know she was an unmarried woman with child. She was far too vulnerable to be able to handle their scrutiny.

"What are you talking about?" Sookie asked. "You have the golden ticket!" she sang, referring to Lorelai's ring.

"I do don't I?" Lorelai said, holding her ring up. She felt a little more confident.

"You've got the golden ticket on your hand," Sookie sang, dragging her best friend along.

"You're going to stop singing when we go inside, or else they will look at us funny."

They entered the store to see that it was empty. "Perfect," Lorelai thought. They looked around, Sookie more excited than the person actually getting a dress. Lorelai tried not get attached to any dress; at her current size the only dresses in here that would fit her were the size of circus tents.

But as unwilling as she was, one dress caught her eye. It was perfect. The style was a dream. It obviously wouldn't fit her now, but it was the size she'd been before. The size that previously had been the easiest for her to maintain. It was even on sale. It was the perfect dress. All the confidence Lorelai had lacked before suddenly appeared. She bought the dress. And then somehow, everything else fell into place.


	27. Chapter 27 Timing and Doubt

Chapter 27

"Well, we're done," Lorelai said, walking past Luke into the diner.

"With what?" Luke asked. He'd just been thinking intensely about April. In his tension, he thought Lorelai was referring to their relationship.

"With the wedding preparations, we're all done," Lorelai told him. So his secret was still safe, she didn't know about April.

Lorelai went on an on about the plans. She told Luke that it had all started with the dress.

"You bought a dress already?" Luke asked.

"Uh yeah, that's what inspired everything else," Lorelai said.

"Yeah but, a dress? You haven't given birth yet."

"The dress is the size I used to be silly. I should have my figure back by June 3rd, which by the way is the date of our wedding."

"You have a date already?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, it's the perfect one," she told him.

"Okay but back to the dress," Luke said. "Are you sure you will have enough time to fit back into it?"

"Please, I've only gained 23 pounds. And it's all in my stomach," Lorelai said confidently. Luke looked down at her bust. "Okay, maybe it's not just there," she conceded. "But I'll bounce back, I know it."

"I remember you telling stories of your last pregnancy though," Luke argued.

"This pregnancy is way different, believe me," she told him. "Just have faith," she said, holding her hands out. Luke took her hands in his.

"June 3rd huh?" Luke said.

"June 3rd," Lorelai repeated.

"That's soon," Luke reminded her.

"I know," Lorelai responded.

"That's less than 5 months away."

"I know that."

"And our baby will be born next month," Luke also reminded her.

"Oh believe me, I am aware of that," she told him, rubbing her belly. He put one of his hands on her stomach.

"Are we ready for all this?" he asked her. She answered him with a kiss.

"I'd say we are," she whispered in his ear. They hugged one of the longest hugs they'd had in a long time. Luke held her close, wishing that she knew the truth. He had two children. He had April, along with little, possibly named, Lucas Jr.

After Lorelai left, Luke was able to smile at her for a moment. After that he knew that he needed to do something about April. There was no way she would not be apart of his life some how. The next day he decided, he was going to see her. He doubted Anna had moved.

Lorelai hated Rory's apartment. It was a dump, it was dangerous. She begged Rory to let Christopher find and pay for a better apartment. Rory partially convinced Lorelai that the apartment she had was fine. Lorelai knew that she had to accept it because her daughter was an adult. But she had the right to put her foot down about one thing,

"Your little brother is not spending the night here," she told Rory. "Ever."

"How come you didn't tell me Anna?" Luke asked her. He'd had some polite awkward banter with her when he'd showed up. But he really needed to hear from her why she'd been so secretive. Before the DNA tests had been done, she'd been sure he was the father, so she had no excuse.

Anna explained further about how she'd been hesitant about telling Luke because of how she knew he felt about kids. Since she hadn't been in his life for 12 years, she'd had no idea that he'd changed so much. One of her flaws was that she unintentionally believed that things weren't true unless she'd seen them happen.

"It doesn't mean I would have been like that with my kid," Luke told her. "I've grown and matured, I'm not the same man I was 12 years ago. I've got a fiancée and an unborn son that I am completely dedicated to."

"Is your son the reason why you are getting married?" Anna asked.

"We found out about him after." It wasn't a total lie.

"Okay, but what are you doing here now?" Anna asked. "I don't have a time machine to go back and change how you found out about April."

"Well, I want to help," Luke said.

"Help with what?" Anna asked.

"Pay for stuff, take care of things," he rambled.

"But we don't need any of that," Anna argued.

"This is my responsibility too," Luke told her. "And now that I know, I have to do something."

He told her about how he wanted to be financially involved from now on, and he wanted to compensate her for the last 12 years. She told him they didn't need him to do that. She even reminded him that he had another child who needed money to be raised with that Luke should worry about.

Luke didn't ask her for contact with April. He knew April didn't want him in her life. But he wanted to help somewhat. He knew Anna wouldn't ask too much of him, so he'd be able to keep this a secret from Lorelai.

Later on though, Luke changed his mind. Not about helping out, but about contact. He didn't just want to be a money bank to his daughter. He wanted to be her father. He ended up calling Anna after seeing April's website, telling her he wanted contact. She agreed to it, but seemed a little surprised by it all.

Luke felt even better about it after that. But one more thing gnawed at him. Helping out financially, and actually being in his daughter's life were two different things. He couldn't hide contact from Lorelai. He knew he had to be honest now. She was his fiancée. His future wife and son had a right to know April.

So it was decided. Luke was telling Lorelai. Tonight.

Before Luke came over, Lorelai got a call from Rory. Rory had run into Logan several times since being back at school. They hadn't been good run-ins. Rory was hurting. Her stint at the school shrink proved that. She'd be going to the doctor regularly now. That was untouched territory for a Gilmore. Emily would freak if she knew.

Other than the news of Rory's mental health, something else was gnawing at Lorelai. Since the relief and excitement about the wedding plans had worn off, Lorelai was suspicious. This had all been too easy. Something must be wrong; something bad must be headed for her. She examined her dress, she was having extreme doubts.

When she heard Luke come in, she had a spur of the moment fear. It was Luke. The bad thing in her future had to do with Luke. In her terrified mind, there seemed to be only one thing to do: have Luke and the wedding dress in the same room.

"It's bad luck for me to see you in the wedding dress!" Luke had called up to her when she told him what she was going to do.

"You won't see me in the dress," she said at the top of the stairs. As she came down the stairs, she finished her sentence, "you'll just see me carrying it."

Luke was in awe. The dress was beautiful. But looking at it only made what he had to say harder. His nervousness was easily disguised as him being in awe of her dress. But he knew the truth had to come out eventually. Now had seemed like the perfect time, until she'd unveiled the dress. Now, there would be no way to say this lightly.

So, he did the stupidest thing he could ever do. He didn't tell her. Again.


	28. Chapter 28 Lies

Chapter 28

Lorelai's day was the longest and weirdest day she'd had in a long time. It started with Kirk hounding her about her inappropriate carnival stand, the weird maple syrup fetishists taking over her dining room, and then, she had an impromptu meeting with Logan. After all that, she needed a break. So she went to the diner, suspecting nothing.

She hadn't planned to go to the diner that day; she didn't think she'd have time. Luke seemed completely understanding of it, so she felt it would be okay. But after the wacky day she'd had, she needed to break her schedule, and go to Luke's.

When she entered, Luke was nowhere in sight. She could see Lane and Cesar's backs in the kitchen. The only person, who seemed to be working in the main part of the diner, was a little girl. She looked to be barely a teenager. Was Luke openly defying child labor laws?

"Oh hi," Lorelai said to the girl. If this girl would be working here she figured she should meet her. "What are you doing?" Lorelai asked. This girl looked awfully interested in playing with the saltshakers. This seemed like the kind of thing Rory would have amused herself with at this age.

"Chores," the girl said, acting like she was an every day working stiff like the other adults in the room. It was cute.

"Yeah, I see," Lorelai said. This girl reminded her so much of Rory. Until the girl asked the strangest question.

"Are you a strangler?" the girl asked.

"No, no." Lorelai told her. What kind of question was that? It was so, out there, straight forward. Who did she know who was like that?

Lorelai had a weird conversation with the girl about salt. But she was in desperate need of coffee, so she cut to the chase. She asked the girl how she had a job there. Back when Rory was a teen she'd asked Luke how old you had to be to work there. He'd said he was only hiring people with driver's licenses and no acne. This girl hardly adhered to those rules.

"My father owns the place," the girl said.

Lorelai forgot to breath. Her father?

"Your father?" Lorelai asked. She thought maybe this girl's father was Cesar, and he'd claimed he was owner.

"My biological father," the girl said matter-of-factly. Lorelai looked up to see Luke watching them. Pure awkwardness was painted on his face.

This girl was April.

April was going on about the salt, unaware that she'd just dropped a bombshell on someone. Maybe she thought Lorelai knew? She didn't know, but she should have.

"I thought you couldn't get away," Luke finally said to Lorelai. He still wasn't brave enough to stand closer to her.

"I got away," Lorelai mustered up the ability to say.

"She said she wasn't a strangler," April chimed in. She was completely unaware of what was going on. She wasn't slow, but she was a tad oblivious. Absent minded, like Luke.

"You wanna…go outside?" Luke asked.

"Uh huh," Lorelai said, leaving the diner without even looking at him.

As soon as they were outside, Lorelai spoke. She was too upset to look at him yet.

"You lied," she said to Luke.

"I'm sor—" Luke started to say

"You said the tests were negative."

"No, I said she didn't call me."

"Then how did you find out?"

"I went to the science fair."

"And you couldn't tell me the truth?" Lorelai asked. She finally looked up at him. She was hurt, so hurt she couldn't speak calmly.

"I wanted to, but I couldn't," Luke tried to convince her.

"What, your mouth wasn't working?" she asked.

"In a way, yes," he told her. She just rolled her eyes.

"We said we weren't going to keep things from each other," she reminded him.

"I was going to tell you eventually,"

"It's been 2 months since Anna contacted you," Lorelai argued. "When were you going to tell me?"

"Soon," Luke said.

"The time to tell me was when you found out!" Lorelai scolded him.

"I didn't mean to hide it!" he yelled. More hurt splashed across her face. "Lorelai," he said, his anger gone, alarm in its place. "I didn't mean to…"

"Stop," Lorelai told him, putting her hand up. "I can't think about this now. This is a lot, I need time to think about it."

"When do you want to talk?" he asked in concern.

"When I'm ready," she told him.

"Soon?" he asked.

"2 months sounds good," she said sarcastically. And she walked away. She was far too hurt to think about this rationally. Really, there was nothing rational about it. He had lied; he'd kept her out of something big. She wouldn't wait 2 months to tell him how she felt, but she wasn't about to turn around and have her feelings completely organized.

She needed time to think. He owed her that. She needed time to get over this. The stress this had created was not good for the baby. The last thing she wanted was an early delivery. A month was too soon. Way, too soon.


	29. Chapter 29 Secrets and Consequences

Chapter 29

This had been a banner year for Lorelai. She experienced a nearly 6 month estrangement from her daughter, got engaged, found out she was pregnant, and now, she found out her fiancé had a child he didn't tell her about. This stress was like nothing she had experienced before.

She mulled it over for hours. She rarely got up from her seat at the kitchen table. Only her dog's whines broke her out of her trance. Later, her daughter came home. Rory's day had apparently been much better than Lorelai's. The letter Lorelai had written had been a big hit. But once her daughter saw the hurt on Lorelai's face, she changed emotions immediately.

"Luke has a daughter," Lorelai finally said out loud.

She voiced to Rory all that she had thought about the situation that day. She couldn't understand why Luke hadn't told her. She'd been there when Anna showed up; clearly she was just as involved with this as he was. Well, maybe not as involved, since it wasn't her kid. But she felt that they were equal partners in this. April would be her stepdaughter. That had to count for something. Her son not only had Rory as a sister, but April as well.

"If you remember mom," Rory reasoned. "You weren't so quick to tell Luke about the baby."

"I didn't wait two months." Lorelai argued.

"But you should understand how it feels to have something big that's scary to tell people," Rory said. Lorelai knew her daughter was right. She tried to remember that, when they left to go to the carnival. She knew Luke would show up eventually.

When Luke did show up, they went on a walk. Lorelai was more understanding and calmer than she'd been earlier. But that didn't mean this situation didn't still bother her.

"It's just all so much right now," Luke said, after they'd gotten past things.

"What all?" Lorelai asked.

"Well I've got a kid, she's here," Luke said. "June 3rd," he added.

"What about June 3rd?" Lorelai asked.

"It's just so soon," he told her.

"It's months away," she said.

"Well it feels close," he told her. "It's everything. It's piling up, it's happening so fast."

"Well," Lorelai said. "If it's all happening too fast we can postpone the wedding."

"Really?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, it's changeable," Lorelai said. "That date made sense, but having more time would be good."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Who could argue me having more time to get my figure back?" Lorelai half-heartedly joked.

"Yeah," Luke said. He seemed to think her idea made perfect sense. He of course, hadn't remotely noticed how much she hated suggesting the change.

"But that's all we can do," she told him. "If you want to postpone the baby's birthday, you're gonna half to take that up with him." Luke laughed. It seemed like the two of them were over the problem.

"And I'm not talking about the baby," Lorelai joked. "You're going to need a written proposal to God. And he's not known for his flexibility." Luke laughed some more, Lorelai joining in this time. They ended up embracing, Luke far more into the kiss than his fiancée.

If Luke were an angle, he'd be obtuse. Lorelai was definitely not okay with all of this. But if she could help it, she wasn't going to let Luke know.

"'Think it might be a health code violation, kissing this closely to the cotton candy booth," Lorelai joked.

"Meet me back at my place later?" Luke asked. He was in full on romancing mode. He didn't care that his fiancée was almost full term; he was going to show his love for her some way that night.

"Yeah, see you there," she told him. He gave her a swift peck on the lips, and he was gone. Lorelai stood there for a moment, her face officially betraying the emotions she'd claimed she'd had to Luke. She walked away from the cotton candy booth, asked Rory to officially take over the Doggy Swami, and she went home. She'd call Luke and tell him to meet her there.

*I've been in full writing mode today. I can't promise it will be like this every day, but I'm trying my best to write daily. I can't thank you enough for reading and reviewing. It means so much to me. Keep it coming. –DD *


	30. Chapter 30 Hurt the Sequel

Chapter 30

The next morning, very early in the morning, Lorelai started sneaking around. The night previously, she'd rebuffed Luke's proposal to be close to each other. She'd had the, 'my stomach is the size of a Thanksgiving turkey so having someone on top of me isn't particularly comfortable' excuse on her side. But nonetheless, the rest of the night had been awkward.

She was trying to sneak out of the house without Luke waking up. He was generally an early to rise person, which made this very difficult. Despite how deep of a sleeper he generally was, Luke woke up to find his fiancée sneaking out of their room.

She did a bit about how she had "chores" to do. But it was far too early in the morning for Luke to go along with it.

"You're being evasive," he told her.

"I'm not being evasive," she argued. "I'm trying to remain mysterious so you still find me interesting 100 years from now."

"Why won't you tell me where you're going?" Luke asked.

"Because you kept a huge secret and postponed my wedding you bastard," Lorelai thought. But she being more awake than Luke; was able to be tactful in her phrasing. Luke immediately felt bad. Here his fiancée was, sneaking off in the waking hours because it was the only way she could avoid letting him know how she was feeling. She was 8 months pregnant with his baby, and she was on her feet far more than she needed to be.

"Oh…" she said, when Luke asked her if he could help her cancel things. Luke was trying very hard to be just as involved in this as she was. He had taken a backseat to their previous wedding plans, and he wanted a chance to be involved while some semblance of it still existed. Never mind the fact that he was the reason why her dream wedding plans were slipping away. Luke didn't know what else to do. He still regretted not telling Lorelai in the beginning. And he knew now that Lorelai had lied when she said she was okay.

Telling Sookie about the wedding postponement was hard. It had been different with Rory. She didn't really want to talk about it. She knew she had to tell other people eventually. She wasn't looking forward to that.

Of course she knew she had an option that would make at least the spreading of this news easier: Informing one of the gossip goddesses. Miss Patty, Babette, or if worse comes to worst, East Side Tilly.

To make matters worse, something was about to get blown in from the bitter and miserably cold world of Emily and Richard.

Rory had neglected to tell Richard and Emily about Christopher paying for Yale. Lorelai had neglected it as well. She'd been sure Rory would have said something. The reason Christopher was paying at all was because Emily had pulled the rug out from under them. But according to Richard's voice message, he had decided to renege on Emily's revenge, and pay for Yale again. No doubt Emily had agreed because she thought she could get her claws into the girls again.

Lorelai felt that Rory should have told the grandparents about the tuition, but Rory seemed dead against having any contact with them. So Lorelai acted in a way that every mom has to do at least 100 times in their kid's life: she solved Rory's problems for her, and did it herself.

The talk on the phone with her parents was not enjoyable. Emily had hung up the phone quickly, and Richard had been so crestfallen that it had made Lorelai sad. She ended up making a deal with him.

"Dad," she said, hoping he wouldn't hang up on her. "I know you miss Rory, I know you hate what has happened, but I don't think a phone call is going to solve any of this."

"What do you suggest?" Richard asked.

"I never thought I'd ever say this," Lorelai said. "But, we need to have dinner."

Richard was equally stunned.

"I'm not going to be moving about soon, I'm 8 months along," Lorelai said. "So this would be a good a time as any to have one of our traditional Friday night dinners."

"You want to?" he asked.

"Of course," she told him. Even though a voice in her head was screaming, "No! No! No!"

"Is this Friday okay?" Lorelai asked.

"We'll see," Richard said. He wasn't as down as he'd been before.

"Okay," Lorelai said, glad to have maid some progress. "See you then,"

"Yes…" Richard said, pulling the phone away from his ear, so his final word slowly quieted down.

"What!" Rory said in complaint. Her mother had organized a Friday night dinner. She'd finally gotten away from those people. She then realized she was more like her mother now than she'd ever been.

Lorelai was able to partially convince Rory to do the dinner. Rory wasn't very thrilled about it, but she tried her best.

"Do you want to wear my scarf to dinner?" her mother joked. Rory just rolled her eyes. "I know you do!"

* I don't like how this chapter came out, it's sad that this is the best I can do for my monumental 30th chapter. But I had no idea that those two little parts would drag on so long. I promise to make it up to you all in the 31st chapter. I'm working on some variations to the big fight at the dinner; I hope it will be amusing. Thanks for reading. –DD *


	31. Chapter 31 Insanity

Chapter 31

Until the Friday night dinner had reared it's ugly head, Rory had been doing all right. She managed to get the paper to the printer on time and she and Logan had gotten back together. But none of that mattered. She was about to enter a house that had now caused both she and her mother, serious pain.

Lorelai was a veteran at going to her parents' house; it didn't matter that something possibly dastardly would befall her. She was a pro. She was prepared to be the rational person, and possibly referee. But, she was having trouble getting her daughter to go into the house. Getting Paul Anka to poop on wet grass was an easier task.

"I know better than anyone that dinners like this are grueling," Lorelai told Rory after her cute story had completed itself. I've got 37 years of experience."

"You can hardly count the first 2 or 3," Rory argued. "You were a toddler, how much could you possibly remember?"

"34 years is still plenty of experience," Lorelai stated. She personally counted the dinners she'd experienced at age 2, but she had no time to argue with Rory on it.

"Come on my little cow herderess, do you want to press the bell or should I?"

The girls entered the house, would they ever come out? There was no way of knowing.

Their first conversation with the Gilmores was of course awkward. It seemed the only way they could successfully talk, was if they argued.

And of course, since they were Gilmores, arguing ensued.

They argued about Christopher, Rory's criminal record, Rory and Lorelai row, Emily and Rory's row, Rory's behavior all those months, Lorelai's behavior, the grandparents behavior, and they had some 'he said/she said' fights. They even somehow managed to fight about Lorelai's unborn child.

"And how dare you not tell us you are pregnant!" Emily yelled at Lorelai.

"I believe I did tell you," Lorelai argued. "If I hadn't you wouldn't know now."

"No you didn't, Rory told us!" Emily fought. "We had a right to hear it from our own daughter!"

"Oh I am sick and tired of all this 'rights' bull crap!" Lorelai yelled, in reference to far more than just her mother.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Richard asked. Lorelai was getting her fights confused.

"I was going to tell you guys eventually, "Lorelai said. Rory nodded in agreement. "I just didn't know how." By saying that, Lorelai far understood Luke's April dilemma better than before.

"It's called opening your mouth Lorelai," Emily chided. "You've never had a problem with it before."

"Now Emily," Richard said. He was now trying to play both sides. "It hardly does us any good to fight about things we can't fix." Richard was worried about stressing Lorelai. He knew how far along she was. During all of the fighting, both Richard and Rory had begged the group for fight breaks. Both were scared about Lorelai's condition. Lorelai knew that if she'd asked for a reprieve, Emily would pick a fight over it. Emily wasn't a completely insensitive woman, but when she was immersed in a fight, she could never get out of it.

The breaks and Richard's request for rationality didn't hold much sway. More fighting still broke out. The only people who didn't fight with each other were Rory and Lorelai. Sometimes it was Emily and Richard vs. Rory and Lorelai. Sometimes it was one grandparent vs. one Gilmore girl, with the excluded family trying to get them to calm down. Eventually though, the people who were taking a break from fighting, let the others go full steam.

While Rory and Emily were fighting about Rory's place in the DAR, Richard decided to have a pleasant talk with Lorelai, if possible.

"So, how's Luke?" he asked. Lorelai had been bombarded constantly from townsfolk about her and Luke. She was done being tactful and strong. She decided to just be honest.

"He has a kid," she told her father. He had been about to take a sip of his drink, but she stopped him in his tracks.

"You mean other than the one you're carrying?" he asked.

"That would be what I meant," Lorelai said sarcastically. She wasn't in the mood to be civil, considering all that had transpired that night.

"When did this happen?" Richard asked.

"About 12 years ago," Lorelai replied.

"He's been keeping this secret for 12 years?"

"No, he just found out a little while ago."

"Then you can't hate him," Richard said. "He didn't know."

"He waited 2 months to tell me," Lorelai argued. "And I don't hate him."

"Oh," Richard said. "Well, I'm sorry you found out about Luke's eldest child so late."

"Thanks," Lorelai said.

"Oh my god!" Emily exclaimed behind them. Somehow Emily and Rory had re-entered the living room without Richard and Lorelai hearing them.

"Luke has another bastard child!"

"Mom!" Lorelai exclaimed. "What century are we living in? How many children born these days have married parents?" 

"I can't believe this," Emily said.

"Don't pick a fight about this too," Lorelai begged her mother. Emily didn't pick a fight. This news managed to cause an impromptu break from fighting. Emily wanted to know more. Lorelai told them about the DNA testing and that Luke was trying to be in his daughter's life now. She neglected to tell them that this new journey didn't seem to include her. That's how she felt any way.

But soon after this break, Emily managed to bring up Lorelai's teen pregnancy. Which caused their oldest fight to spring from their sore throats.

Lorelai and Rory left the Gilmore mansion, tired and disheveled.

"Well, I think we officially reinstated Friday night dinner," Lorelai said. Then, the girls walked separate ways to their cars. When they both got back to Lorelai's house, they fell onto the couch, asleep. When Luke came home later that night, he had a difficult time getting the girls to go to their beds. He had to walk them half asleep to their rooms. That's not an easy feat with two grown women. He imagined getting his son to bed would be a lot easier. He hoped.

As he kissed Lorelai's forehead, dressing her for bed, he wished Lorelai were awake. He wanted to tell her about his time with April. He wanted to be open with her. But of course like before, his timing was bad.

"Good night Lorelai," he said. "I love you." He'd never really said that before. And the one time he did, she wasn't awake.

* I didn't end up having too many additions to the dinner fight like I thought I would, but I think this chapter at least partially made up for my previous chapter. Thank you for reading. –DD *


	32. Chapter 32 Hysteria

Chapter 32

"Lorelai how is Luke?" Emily asked. It was the second Friday night dinner they'd had since starting it up again. Lorelai would be delivering in 3 weeks. Because of how fragile she was, the Gilmores were trying their best not to start fighting again.

"Hey, nice one Mom," Lorelai complemented. She was glad to see that her mother (of all people) was changing the subject and stopping the fighting.

"Thank you. Well?" Emily asked.

"What?" Lorelai asked. She then realized her mother was actually interested. "Oh, oh, he's fine."

"So you're still engaged?"

"Yes, we're still engaged."

Emily ended up rambling about how little involved she was in this, and how she didn't know what was expected of her. Her entire speech was meant to guilt her daughter of course, but she tried to make it seem innocent. An ability that never worked on her daughter. The innocence, not the guilt. The guilt worked.

"You said before that most children born these days are to non-married parents," Emily said. "So it's not crazy to assume that you and Luke aren't getting married despite your baby."

"The baby isn't the reason we're getting married," Lorelai told her. Although, considering how the April thing had pulled them apart, she wondered if Luke was really marrying her for love any more. Maybe it was his own guilt? They rarely talked about their relationship any more.

"…And now you're not telling me the date of this wedding I may or may not be invited to…" Emily continued to ramble.

"June 3rd!" Lorelai called out.

And now she was screwed. She'd told them the fake date. Telling them the wedding was postponed would be painful. She'd neglected to tell them about it when she'd explained the April situation. Or the, "Apricot situation," as her mother had called it. True to her personality, Emily had kept pretending she didn't know April's name, as her way of saying that she felt that girl didn't matter.

Because of how soon Emily felt the wedding date was, she insisted that Lorelai bring Luke to dinner the coming Friday. Lorelai had been hoping to have the next two Fridays canceled, because she was now on maternity leave. But there was no convincing Emily.

Luke of course didn't want to go. He'd had no problem going all those months without seeing Lorelai's parents. Despite the fact that he was the reason their daughter was finally getting married didn't seem like enough for them to start liking him. The baby probably made it hard to like him. Did they really think the last time Lorelai had had sex was when Rory was conceived?

"I don't understand why we are going," Luke said, sitting on Lorelai's bed while she got ready. "You're delivering in two weeks, you shouldn't be on your feet. It's not a good idea to venture off too far from home."

"It's not like we are visiting them up in the mountains," Lorelai argued. "It's a 30 minute drive, they have a hospital there."

"But our doctor won't be there." Luke said.

"I've got her number on speed dial," Lorelai said. "She has contacts up at the Hartford hospital, she can deliver there."

"Okay," Luke conceded. "But if your mother puts you in any stress we are leaving!" 

"Yes sir!" Lorelai said in a deep voice, saluting her fiancé.

After it was decided about her parents, Luke went back to ranting about Michel's list.

"If Michel's happy, then I'm happy," Lorelai said seductively. "And then I take all that happiness and give it right back to you, tonight, in bed, after you spend 4 hours with my parents. What do you say?"

Luke smiled at her, and then looked down at her large stomach.

"You haven't let me touch you in weeks," he said. "What makes you so hot for me now?"

"Who says you'd be doing the touching?" Lorelai said even sexier, resting her hand on his inner thigh.

"Just 2 hours?" he begged.

"Sorry, 4," she told him. Patting his thigh, and then heading down the stairs.

Lorelai knew that spending 4 hours with her parents would be too much for Luke. So she acted as any 8-½ month pregnant woman was allowed to do. She played up her condition. She made it seem like she was very weak, and she drank a lot of club soda. Before she was pregnant, she would have just consumed a lot of alcohol to make the night more enjoyable, but that wasn't really an option that time.

She and Luke improvised about how she'd eaten something bad that day. They were doing their best to get out of there. Not all of Lorelai's signs of weakness were fake though. Luke recognized her exhaustion and her touching her stomach. She was unsettled.

It was made worse when The Gilmores told them insurance horror stories. After dinner, it caused Lorelai and Luke to get hysterical outside the house. And being hysterical is not good for a pregnant woman.

"I think I can walk now," Luke said, when their hysteria seemed to be over. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah," Lorelai said. But as she started to walk, she had to stop. She began to experience some serious pain. Pain that she knew she'd had before, but it had been a long time since she'd had it. 21 years to be exact. "Oh god," she said, and then she crumpled to the ground.

"Lorelai!" Luke ran to her and tried to help her up.

"Mrs. Gilmore!" the English maid Julia called to Emily. Julia had been watching the hysteria from the window.

"What it is now Julia?" Emily asked. She thought about firing the girl just for annoying her.

"I think your daughter is going into labor," Julia said, pointing out the window.

Emily rushed to the window to see her daughter's face in pain, and clutching her stomach.

Richard had over heard Julia, and rushed to the door with Emily. They came out to see Luke trying to help Lorelai into his truck.

"Oh no," Emily said with conviction. "There is no way my daughter is going to the hospital in that filthy thing!"

So that is how by some miracle, Lorelai was transported to the hospital in a Jag. Luke was in the backseat trying to help her relax. Richard was driving, and Emily, hadn't taken her eyes of her daughter for one second.


	33. Chapter 33 Countdown

Chapter 33

When Lorelai had seen Luke clutch his chest, she'd thought he was having a heart attack. Until he asked her about pain she knew she'd had before. Luke was experiencing agonizing weakness caused by the master, Emily Gilmore.

She until a minute later experienced pain of her own. Labor pain.

"Two weeks!" Lorelai ranted in the back seat, Luke trying to keep her back against the seat. "I was supposed to have 2 weeks!"

"These things happen Lorelai, God doesn't have the same plan as your doctor," Emily told her.

"God? Please! This is your doing!" Lorelai yelled hysterically. "You and your horror stories!"

"We assured you that we wouldn't let any of those stories happen to you," Emily said. "You and you alone are the cause of your stress," said Emily. She wasn't going to let her daughter blame her, not even today.

"No!" Lorelai called out.

"Everyone calm down!" Richard said. He was trying to focus on the road. Unbeknownst to them, he had forgotten the quickest way to the hospital. He didn't dare bother Lorelai with that.

"Luke," Lorelai said, trying to breath normally. "Call Rory."

Luke took Lorelai's cell phone and found Rory's number.

Rory was at dinner with Logan and her father when she heard her phone vibrate. It was her mother's number. She hadn't told Lorelai about moving in with Logan. She knew if she answered the phone, she'd have to tell her mother then. So she ignored it.

"She's not answering," Luke said. "Is she in class?"

"No," Lorelai said, feeling a contraction. "She's showing her Dad around school today."

"Then why wouldn't she answer her phone?" Emily asked.

"I don't know!" Lorelai screeched in pain. "Mom! You. Call. Her!"

Emily tried.

When Rory saw Emily's number, she remembered it was Friday. The call might have something to do with dinner. Was Emily flipping out because Rory hadn't showed up? Did Lorelai call first as a warning?

"Who keeps calling you?" Christopher asked.

"First Mom, then Grandma," Rory replied.

"What do you think they want?" asked Logan.

"Not sure if I want to find out," Rory said, putting her phone down on the table. She heard her phone get a text message, but she didn't look at it. Logan however, who was sitting right next to her, saw the screen.

"Ace," Logan said stunned. "You might want to look at this."

The text was just one word. 'Baby!'

"Oh!" Rory said jumping up. She ran out of the door, hitting her mother's number on speed dial.

"What's going on?" Christopher asked. Both he and Logan got up.

"We better go, I've got the keys," Logan said. "Her mom just went into labor.

Christopher left 100 dollars on the table, and ran after Rory and Logan. He didn't know if he should be going with them, but where else would he go. He didn't know his way back to his car. One of the waiters chased after them.

"I'll call the cops!" he yelled.

"Money is on the table yutz!" Christopher yelled.

"Nice one," Logan said. They finally caught up with Rory. She was on the phone standing next to the car.

"What hospital Luke?" Rory asked the phone. She nodded to whatever Luke had said, and she hung up. Looking up at Logan and Christopher's confused faces Rory said, "Hartford."

The Jag was met at the emergency door entrance with a wheel chair. Luke and an attendant helped Lorelai into the chair, and wheeled her in. Emily ran ahead of them to sign Lorelai in. Richard parked the car.

By the time the flustered nurses (made that way by Emily) had a room ready for Lorelai, her contractions had calmed down. Lorelai hoped that it was a false alarm. She hoped her doctor would just tell her what she'd already been about to do: go on bed rest from work. But no, according to her doctor, this baby was coming that day.

Rory was 2 miles away from Hartford when she got a text from her mother, 'where are you!'

'I'm almost there,' she texted back. Christopher sat awkwardly in the back seat. He didn't know if he should be going to the hospital with them. But he didn't think it would have been right to ask them to drop him by his car. His plan was to just stay away from the group. Act as an errand person if need be.

When they finally got to the hospital, Rory was a nervous wreck. She pulled an Emily and went over the top when asking the nurse how to find her mother's room. Logan tried to steer her to calm, but she was far too nervous. She'd be meeting her little brother tonight. 'Or tomorrow' Logan had said. It was true; she had no idea how long her mother would be in labor for.

They finally found Lorelai's room. Christopher stayed outside, Logan did the same (thinking that this was probably best for anyone not blood related to Lorelai). Rory ran in and hugged her mother the best she could, considering that her mother had needles in her arm.

"I'm doing alright," Lorelai told Rory when she asked. "I'm dilated 5 centimeters."

"And that's good, right?" Luke asked. This was his first baby who's birth he'd be there for. He hadn't gotten this far in the baby books.

"She's doing fine," the doctor said, who was checking the monitors.

But then, the machines started beeping violently.

"Or not," the doctor said. "Everyone but the parents out of the room." Emily, Richard, and Rory rushed out of there like a bomb was about to go off. Luke and Lorelai looked at each other, terrified.

Something was wrong with their baby.

* Sorry I'm cutting the chapter before the birth, I'm trying to create suspense. The next chapter will have the birth, I promise. –DD *


	34. Chapter 34 3,2,1

Chapter 34

"Your baby is in fetal distress," the doctor said.

"Is it the cord? Placenta?" Luke asked.

"Threatening heart beat," the doctor told them.

"Do we need to do a cesarean?" Lorelai asked.

"I'd strongly advise it," the doctor said, the beeping wasn't as intense.

"That's not always the case doctor," said the nurse. "You should know that sometimes the need for a c-section is misjudged because of how sensitive these monitors are," the nurse said to Lorelai and Luke.

"A vaginal birth isn't a risk they'd want to take," the doctor argued with the nurse. Lorelai had never realized how territorial her doctor was. "Cesareans are very common and they work," the doctor directed at the couple.

"So wait," Luke said. "Is a vaginal birth absolutely too dangerous?"

"I personally would say so," the doctor told him.

"I'm all for avoiding that vaginal pain," Lorelai said. "But, I don't want to have to put my body through 6 weeks of recovery only to find out the machines were just being too sensitive."

"If you want to do something as stupid as a vaginal birth, get someone else to deliver," the doctor said bluntly. Lorelai remembered that her doctor throughout her pregnancy had praised cesareans. Despite her doctor's bias, she was a good doctor, so Lorelai trusted her.

"Let's do it," Lorelai said. "Let's do the c-section."

"Fabulous choice," her doctor said, she seemed to be relieved that she'd 'won.' Not a good trait of a doctor, close minded. The doctor also gave the nurse a haughty stare. It was possible she just had a low opinion of nurses.

"We need to tell the family," Lorelai said to Luke. They looked at the doctor. The doctor looked like she felt that job was beneath her. What was with her tonight?

"The nurse can do it," the doctor said. Her condescension proved it, she looked down on nurses. The nurse went out to the waiting room.

"Hey," Luke said to the doctor. "If you are going to be a sour puss, I don't want you delivering our son." He didn't like the doctor's behavior one bit. Lorelai loved Luke figuratively pounding his chest to the doctor. Lorelai knew what it was like to be treated badly by someone who was at a higher job position. She felt for the nurse, she hoped she could talk to the woman later.

"I'm not being a sour puss," the doctor argued. "I take births very seriously." The doctor sighed and took a breath. "If how I'm acting is coming out in a fashion you don't like, I apologize."

"You should apologize to that nurse," Luke said.

"Okay Luke," Lorelai said. "Back down."

The doctor looked like she really wanted to move on from this.

"If you want to get rid of the risk," she said. "We need to deliver the baby now."

"Right," Lorelai said. And then some transport men came in. They helped her onto a gurney, and wheeled her to the delivery room. They passed the waiting room that the family was residing in. The nurse was with them, she'd told them the news. They watched her go.

"I love you!" Rory called out.

"I love you too!" Lorelai called back. And then, they were in a different hallway. Lorelai couldn't see her family any more. She was about to have her baby. She'd barely been in the hospital 2 hours. She didn't know how long the procedure would take, but she didn't care. Her baby was being born. She never miscarried, and Luke had never strayed. The April stuff, she could forget about. But she had one last thing to say about it.

"You should call April real quick," She said to Luke when they got into the delivery room. "She should know her baby brother is being born today."

"I'll call her after the birth," Luke told her, holding her hand, brushing his other hand across her forehead. "It's just you and me right now. Time to welcome my son to the world."

Lorelai smiled, and then turned to the doctor.

"Let's do this thing!" she said enthusiastically. And then, came the morphine and the breathing mask.

*He he he, here's some more suspense for you! I know I said the birth would be this chapter. But, I changed my mind. But now, there's no way to put it off any longer. Chapter 35, will have the baby. I pinky promise! I love you all. –DD *


	35. Chapter 35 Boom!

Chapter 35

Since it was an emergency c-section, the procedure took only 2 minutes. Lorelai marveled at the speed. Squeezing Rory out 21 years ago had taken way longer. Since she was under anesthetic, the procedure didn't really hurt. She just felt some pressure. But she knew from friends that recovery from this was painful, because of the incision. So there was no painless way to deliver a baby, oh well.

Sewing her up, working with the placenta, and taking care of the baby took longer though. Roughly 45 minutes. Luke had kept his eyes on Lorelai the whole delivery. He only dared to take his eyes off hers right before she was cut open, when the doctor asked if this was the only child they wanted.

"Is something wrong?" Luke asked. Lorelai had an oxygen mask on, so her eyes asked the question.

"No," the doctor said. "But, since Lorelai will already be open on the table, I could tie her tubes if you two are decided that this is your last baby."

They hadn't thought about that. Did they want another baby? They had been previously worried that this baby would be too unhealthy for another child to be added to the mix. But they didn't want to decide now. They could want another baby, who knows?

"Keep her…untied," Luke said. Lorelai's eyes were surprised. "You never know," Luke said, looking back at her. He could tell she was smiling under the mask. He wished her could fully see it, but he knew the mask gave his son more air.

When the baby came out, he was held high enough for Lorelai to see. Like Rory, the baby was covered in guck. He did sort of look like an alien. But Lorelai felt that besides her daughter, her son was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. The nurse took the baby to clean and suction him up, and then do the Apgar test.

"Why isn't he crying?" Luke asked. But when he saw a suction removed from his son, he heard it. He heard a baby cry a cry that for once in his life didn't disgust him. That cry meant his son was alive. But was he okay?

"Go watch him," Lorelai said. She had removed her mask. The doctor was stitching her up, so she obviously couldn't go anywhere.

"Are you sure?" Luke asked, taking her hand.

"Yes, go," she said. "He needs to see one of his parents!" She looked terrified. What was wrong?

"Okay…" Luke said, then he went over to inspect what they were doing to his son.

"Your wife is probably worried about bonding," the nurse whispered to him. Luke understood now. And he didn't bother to correct the nurse. Lorelai would be his wife. And as he looked down at the baby, he knew what the doctor meant by bonding. As soon as he and his son made eye contact, he was a changed man. This baby was his. He and Lorelai had created him together. Luke couldn't think of anything more beautiful.

As soon as the baby was wrapped up, the nurse asked Luke a question he'd been dreaming about for months.

"Would you like to hold your son?"

Luke gingerly picked up the baby. The baby's mouthed opened, Luke thought the baby was going to cry. But it just yawned.

"He's sleepy," Lorelai said. She could see them from where she was. Luke walked up to her, and held their son at her eye level. "He worked hard tonight."

"And he's perfect," the doctor said, looking at the test results. "Looks like the c-section was a success."

They probably could have done a vaginal birth, but Lorelai wasn't going to make a big deal about it.

"Are you going to hog him the whole time?" Lorelai asked Luke.

"Oh…" he said, looking down at her. He tried to figure out how to hand the baby to her in her lying down position. The doctor came over and helped Luke carefully get the baby in a safe position. Lying on his stomach on Lorelai's chest.

"You're beautiful," Lorelai said to her son. "I love you, and I'm so glad you're here." She pressed a loving kiss onto her son's hair, his damp black curls.

"He's got your hair," Luke said to Lorelai, resting his hand onto Lorelai's head.

"Yeah," Lorelai said. But she looked up at Luke and grinned. "But he looks like you."

They both looked down at their son. Since Lorelai's eyes were preoccupied, she had no idea her fiancé was crying. He was so happy, now that his son was in the world.

"So," the doctor said, interrupting the couple's calm euphoria. "Ready to introduce Baby Boy Gilmore-Danes to the world?"

"His name is Lucas," Lorelai told the doctor. "Lucas William Danes, the second." She smiled up at Luke again, who gave her a kiss on the forehead. And then he kissed his son, who had already fallen asleep.

* I decided to wait to write this, thought I'd try to get you all excited with waiting. I'm so glad this is my 35th chapter. And I can assure you, the story isn't over yet. I'm not going to estimate how many more chapters there are, but there will be more. Anyway, I have some news. I've decided to try my hand at recording myself reading my story aloud. I will be putting it on my youtube channel. If any of you are curious to hear it, my youtube channel is DeniseDePinke. If you ask me for it, I can send you the link if you think finding my account will be too grueling. I think I will make the videos private, so send me your youtube name in a review/comment if you want to hear the story in audio version. Thanks for reading. I wouldn't have had the motivation to update so often, if it weren't for you all. Thanks! –DD *


	36. Chapter 36 He's here

Chapter 36

Lucas was born 6 pounds 2 ounces. That was pretty decent for a baby born two weeks early. His irregular heartbeat while Lorelai had been in labor had just been a side effect of Lorelai's panic (that is what the doctor assumed). His heart was fine. He had 10 fingers and toes. His Apgar score was good. Basically, he'd put them through the ringer for nothing. He was a perfect baby. Luke joked that his son took after Lorelai, because she enjoyed scaring people.

While Lorelai and baby Lucas were being taken back to her room, Luke went out to the waiting room to talk to the family. Luckily, Christopher was on a coffee run, so Luke didn't know he was there.

"Luke!" Rory called out. She ran to him and slid to a halt in front of him. Luke was keeping silent and serious, lulling the family with suspense. Until he was sure he had their full attention, he finally spoke.

"He's perfect," Luke said seriously. But then he smiled, and the family cheered. Rory gave him a big hug, and he received a handshake from Richard and Logan. Emily stood to the side; she didn't feel comfortable standing so close to Luke.

"Can we see them now?" Emily asked.

"Yeah," Luke said, smiling at everyone. "I think they're ready for us."

Logan once again stood outside the room while the family went in. He knew this was their moment. The family walked in to see Lorelai in bed, holding the baby. Rory got teary eyed and started to gush over her baby brother. Emily and Richard stood on the other side of Lorelai's bed. Both had their eyes on their grandson, they held each other's hands.

"Oh my god!" Rory cooed. "He's so adorable! So little!"

"You were this size once you know," Lorelai told her. "You were pretty darn cute too."

"Did you guys choose his name?" Rory asked.

"It's the same one we chose before," Lorelai said. "Lucas."

"What?" Luke said. He'd been staring at his son in a trance.

"Luke, we decided his name in the delivery room," Lorelai said, she thought she was reminding him. Why she had to she wasn't sure.

"Oh, whoops," Luke said. "When you said Lucas I thought you were talking to me."

"Oh, ha ha," Lorelai laughed. "I guess that might be confusing. He'll need a nickname."

"Like what, Junior?" Emily asked.

"No," Luke said. "That nickname would get demeaning, my dad hated being called Junior."

"Then what?" Richard asked.

"How about L.J?" Lorelai suggested.

"That sounds like T.J" Luke said.

"I know," Lorelai said. "But it's either that, or you get used to going only by Luke, and he only goes by Lucas."

"We'll you've got time to decide," Richard reminded them.

"You probably need to refer to him by his full name in the early years," Emily said. "He needs to learn what his real name is, so he has no confusion in school."

"That's true," Lorelai said. "I remember we started calling Rory by her nickname in early months. And when I signed her up for preschool under her real name, and the teacher called her that, she got confused."

"I learned it soon enough," Rory said.

They all looked at the baby, in awe. He was finally here.

"Do I get to hold him?" Rory asked.

"Sure," Lorelai said. But as Rory started to reach for him Lorelai added, "In a minute." Lorelai wasn't done holding him yet. She had to wait a while in the delivery room to hold him, she needed to make up for that.

"Ok, I'll wait," Rory conceded. "Can Logan come in while I wait?"

"Logan's here?" Lorelai asked.

"He drove us," Rory said.

"Where'd you leave your dad?" Lorelai asked.

"We, oh…" Rory said, looking guilty.

"You didn't leave him stranded some where did you?" Lorelai scolded.

"No…" Rory said. She looked up at Luke, feeling even guiltier, and then back at her mom. "He's here."

"What?" Luke said. What was that idiot doing at the hospital?

"We didn't have time to drop him off at his car," Rory said.

"Oh," Lorelai said. "Well, that's fine."

She got a look from Luke saying he didn't agree.

"He was on a coffee run last time we saw him," Emily said, as Logan walked in.

"I can go look for him if you want," Logan offered.

"I'm right outside!" Christopher called from the hallway. He peered his head in the doorway. "Is it okay if the 7th wheel comes in?"

No one answered, but Christopher decided to take it as a yes, to get past the awkwardness.

"I won't stay long," he said. "I was going to drop off this coffee and then call a cab."

"Oh Logan can take you back," Rory said. Logan looked at her with a, "say what?" look. "I'm going to stay with Mom over night," Rory told them.

"You sure you don't want me to stay?" Logan asked.

"This is family time," Rory said. Logan nodded, and then he and Christopher headed out the door. Rory followed them to say goodbye.

"Are you going to tell your Mom about your new living situation soon?" Christopher asked her while they hugged goodbye.

"I think I'll wait until she's well rested," Rory told him.

"Don't wait too long though," Christopher told her. "You know what happens when you wait too long,"

"I know, believe me," Rory said. She kissed Logan goodbye. And as the two men were leaving Christopher called out,

"I didn't get a good look at the kid, send me a photo!"

"Okay," Rory said, and then she headed back towards the room.

Luke snorted; he'd heard what Christopher had called out. No way was that guy getting a photo of the baby. Lorelai grabbed Luke's hand and squeezed it. She didn't want Luke in a bad mood, not today of all days.

"I'm going to leave a message on April's machine," Luke said. He wasn't looking at Lorelai.

"Is everything okay, Luke?" Richard asked.

Luke snapped out of the bad mood Christopher had put him in. This wasn't the day for him to be mad about Lorelai's ex.

"Yeah," Luke said. He gave them all a smile. He wasn't going to let Christopher ruin this day. This day was meant for his top 10 list of favorite days. 3 days were already on that list: The day he and Lorelai had their first kiss, the day he became Lorelai's boyfriend, and the day he became Lorelai's fiancé. And now that his son's birthday was on the list, there was one more day he hoped would be on the list soon: His wedding to Lorelai.

* No one so far has said if they want me to put my story into youtube video format. I already have the first 9 chapters' videos made. The first 7 are a little shaky because I was still working on my diction and voice octaves, but 8 and 9 are okay. The later recordings I've done are better. Anyway, either put your youtube names into a review/comment or ask me for my youtube page link in a comment (and once you've found my page, send me a YT email saying you want to be on the list to be sent the videos). Thanks for reading! –DD * P.S- Actually, do any of you know if I'm allowed to make videos for my story? I know other people have for theirs.


	37. Chapter 37 Exhaustion

Chapter 37

Lorelai Gilmore and Luke Danes were probably some of the most humorous parents Stars Hollow had ever seen. They were full of anxiety and always worrying. It was a town favorite to watch those two fuss over their baby. The fussing usually consisted of Luke freaking out because he had no baby experience, and Lorelai getting annoyed because she didn't think it should be so hard. Lorelai's postpartum depression week had been even funnier.

"I'm never going to fit into that dress!" She cried when she saw her reflection in the mirror. Because of her size she had been reduced to wearing modest bras. Her underwear looked skimpy because of how her stomach hanged. She had gained weight after giving birth. She had to lose 28 pounds now. That wasn't a lot to lose for someone else, but when all of the weight is in your stomach and chest, it seemed like a big deal.

"You will," Luke said. Putting his hands on her shoulders. But she shook them off.

"Don't look at me!" She cried, and then she locked herself in the bathroom.

Luke didn't know how to act. He had an emotional hurricane fiancée and a newborn son who's crying signs Luke wasn't privy to. He needed to go to work, but he could hear Lorelai crying in the shower. He didn't think she'd be up for watching the baby by herself. He could call Babette or Sookie to come help, but he knew Lorelai would get upset. She had already yelled at him for taking a nap while he was supposed to be taking care of the baby.

Lorelai felt weird about Luke, she wasn't used to having help. When Rory had been a baby, Christopher had stopped by every once and a while. But he hadn't been a dedicated parent like her. Luke was there, a lot. He spent every night at her house. But, most of his stuff still hadn't transferred over. Was he always going to be there or not?

Lorelai thought that things had changed when April had shown up to the hospital. Luke describing her as non-emotional hadn't been entirely true. She hadn't gone over the top like Rory had, but she did smile really big when she saw L.J. She asked to hold him, and she looked like she'd been won over. She talked politely to Lorelai, as if it wasn't weird that they hardly knew each other. Luke and Anna scheduled dates for April to come over to the house to see L.J, even.

But, she and April hadn't really gotten to know each other. It didn't seem like April really knew how bound to each other Lorelai and Luke were. April mostly paid attention to her dad and brother. Lorelai felt like she was being excluded from her own family.

Emily hadn't been much help. She'd come to the house uninvited one of the days April was visiting. Emily acted like April wasn't there. She just hovered near the baby, waiting for her own private time to see him. This was all driving Lorelai nuts.

"No more visitors!" Lorelai told Luke. She was wearing one of Luke's shirts, sweatpants, and her hair was a mess. "It needs to just be you and me!"

"Okay!" Luke said, trying to calm her down. L.J was two weeks old now. Luke had gotten a little better at knowing how to take care of the baby. But Lorelai was on edge.

"I just need this house to be as quiet as possible," Lorelai said, in a quieter voice to prove what she meant. She went over to L.J's crib to pick him up, it was time to feed. The one thing about babies Luke still hadn't gotten used to. He could handle crying and dirty diapers. But watching Lorelai breast feed was still unworldly.

"Could you not stare at me like I'm a freak show?" Lorelai asked tensely.

"Oh, sorry," Luke said, shaking his stare off his face.

"You've got to get over your aversion to breast feeding," Lorelai said.

"I know," Luke admitted. "It's just, I spent so many years…well…"

"Being a traditionalist?" Lorelai asked. "Can't she go find a barn or a bathroom or something?" Lorelai said in her imitation of Luke's voice. "If it offends you, put a blanket over your head!" Lorelai said, but then smiled. She was in a better mood now, because she was getting to tease him.

Luke smiled back at her. When the baby was done, Luke took the baby and placed him back in his crib.

"How soon until he can hold his own head up?" Luke asked. Holding L.J carefully always tensed Luke. Lorelai always compared him to a football player.

"About two months," Lorelai told him.

"Can't wait for that," Luke said.

Lorelai looked around her bedroom. It was a mess. The bed was violently unmade, from all the times she and Luke hurriedly jumped out of bed to attend to their son's needs. Clothes were discarded on the floor, because in their tired states they'd just slept in their underwear, or didn't bother picking up after themselves.

"We need to get out of here for a bit," Lorelai told Luke.

"It's too cold to take L.J out of the house," Luke reminded her.

"I mean just the two of us," Lorelai told him.

"You want to get a babysitter right this second?" Luke asked. "It's already 8 pm."

"Not right now," Lorelai told him. "I mean soon."

"Okay, what do you suggest?" Luke asked.

"Rory called earlier to invite us to Martha's Vineyard." Lorelai told him. Luke raised his eyebrows. That was a long trip for just getting away for a little bit. "I told her we probably could only do a day visit," Lorelai added. "L.J would need a babysitter, I don't think he'd like going on a ferry. He's far too young for too much stimulation."

"Shouldn't we aim for something simpler?" Luke asked.

"Like what?" Lorelai asked.

Luke had no answer for that.

"Okay," Luke said, straightening up. "We are going to Martha's Vineyard."

"Great!" Lorelai said, hugging Luke. "They've invited us for Valentine's Weekend."

"Shoot," Luke thought. He'd forgotten all about Valentine's Day. He realized she must have known that, which was why she took it upon herself to plan something for them. Luke was an awful fiancé.


	38. Chapter 38 Luke vs Valentine's Day

Chapter 38

Lorelai originally was just going to ignore Valentine's Day. She knew Luke wasn't big on it. He hadn't even thought about making plans for them. But previous to her surprising him with the trip to Martha's Vineyard, Lorelai had been convinced by both Sookie and Rory that this holiday was not something to be ignored.

Sookie with her Valentine meal ideas and Rory with her youthful and idealized notion of love, had made Lorelai take charge and have her fiancé make something of this date. They'd been exhausted and busy with the baby for weeks. They needed a break. Who could begrudge them that?

Maisy and Buddy offered to watch the baby for the day. They hadn't gotten to spend much time with him yet. As much as Lorelai loved Luke's practically second set of parents, she hadn't had baby visitation go past blood family and Sookie. Maisy offered to keep Lucas overnight, so that Luke and Lorelai could have more time off, but Lorelai wasn't keen on pumping that much milk (and Luke had decided that he was against formula, because his sister had prattled on about how formula can make babies less immune to illness. And Luke wasn't taking that risk, the alcohol fear he'd had at the beginning of Lorelai's pregnancy had been scary enough.

The last beer Luke had had was when he'd stormed off after he and Lorelai had fought about Christopher. Aside from beer, Luke was generally a health nut. Richard had tried to convince him to have a celebratory cigar after L.J was born, and Luke had kindly refused. He knew that a cigar was probably Richard's way of bonding with her grandson's father, but Luke hated smoking.

Luke hadn't heard anything new about Christopher since he saw him at the hospital. He'd been upset that Chris had been there; ready to punch him when Chris had asked for a picture. But with Lorelai tired and usually not feeling well because of her sluggish figure and pain from surgery, Luke hadn't dared to bring up how much Christopher had bothered him. Really, there was no point. He didn't need that drama in his life.

Luke and Lorelai got up at 6 am to start their journey. Lorelai had a lot of fun reading off the Martha's Vineyard information she'd gotten off the internet. Luke wasn't that interested. The idea of being in someone else's house and being around Rory's boyfriend (who previously he'd wanted to kill when he'd found them fooling around at the vow renewal), wasn't something he was excited for. He was only doing this for Lorelai.

When Luke and Lorelai drove off after dropping Lucas off at Buddy and Maisy's house, felt both a sense of relaxation and worry. They'd never spent more than an hour away from their son. Lorelai kept her hand rested on her cell phone in her pocket, with the sound set on both vibrate and ringtone. Lorelai had been all excited for the trip, until they was a block away from Buddy and Maisy's house.

"Was this a bad idea?" She asked Luke. "Should we have not left him alone?"

"He's not alone," Luke said. "He's with people who love him like he was their own grandson. He'll be fine."

"But," Lorelai argued, her separation anxiety kicking in. "What if he needs me?" She fought against her seatbelt to look back, the house was getting harder and harder to see.

"He'll be fine," Luke told her, but he had the same fear.

After 3½ hours (where Lorelai had called Maisy once every hour), they finally got to the Huntzberger cabin. Luke convinced Lorelai to give her cell phone a break.

"You made it!" Rory said excited, her mother saying the same thing with a different pronoun. The house was very impressive and beautiful, but that couldn't distract Luke from the fact that it was some rich guy's house and that he could be at home serving Lorelai a romantic meal (while they could hear their son in the background through the baby monitor).

They were given a very fast tour. And then they were told by the young couple that they had plans to go to the gym. That wasn't really Lorelai's cup of tea, especially since she was incredibly insecure about her body. She in no way wanted to have to watch women with her previous body type get more and more skinny or "abtastic" as she called them. Rory offered to show Lorelai the beach and the town, while Luke reluctantly agreed to go to the gym with Logan, to shoot hoops. Lorelai and Rory had a much better time. And although Luke didn't plan to show how much he hated this trip, he let Lorelai know. Harshly.

"Well maybe you shouldn't have gone to the gym, no one forced you to go!" Lorelai yelled at Luke. Luke's oblivious nature had made him absolutely dumbfounded by Lorelai's reaction. "It's Valentine's weekend you know!" she said outraged.

Lorelai stormed away, she wasn't that mad, but she needed to distract herself. She went to the kitchen and politely mocked Rory's cooking attire and behavior. When Luke came out, tensed to Lorelai's attitude, Lorelai had silently forgiven him. It was when Luke went out to watch Logan cook the lobster that he knew he would be in even bigger trouble.

"Dude it's Valentine's Day, you got to get your girl a gift," Logan told him with what Luke considered a, "I'm a spoiled rich kid doofus who is being totally condescending towards you by offering one of my expensive gifts to you," smile. To shut Logan up, and to stop Lorelai from being hurt more, Luke took the necklace. He wished he had remembered to get her a gift himself, but it wasn't like Lorelai would be interested in her own tackle box (even though this would be the perfect place to get her one). But she wasn't that type of girl.

Lorelai seemed to believe that Luke had gotten her the gift, but she had still been shocked when she'd received one from him. He wasn't a Valentine's Day kind of guy. Apparently Luke and Logan had had time to sneak out to buy the jewelry while they claimed they'd been looking for tongs. Lorelai wasn't sure if she believed them. She'd walked the town earlier; she had no idea where they would have gotten them.

Lorelai and Luke were silent on the ferry. Luke tried to be sweet by keeping his arm around her or trying to hold her hand, but Lorelai was just someplace else. When they were on land and driving off, after a mile Luke asked her what was wrong. She was playing with her necklace, looking morose.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked. "I thought you liked it."

"No I do," Lorelai told him. "It's beautiful."

"Then what is it?" Luke asked.

"Lately," she told him. "I've been feeling like it's not going to happen."

"What's not going to happen?" Luke asked.

"Our wedding," Lorelai replied.

"Of course it's going to happen," Luke tried to assure her.

"But do you really want it to?" Lorelai asked.

Luke tried to convince her that it would.

"It's not feeling like it's postponed," Lorelai said.

"We are getting married," Luke told her.

"I really want to believe that," Lorelai said.

He apologized for how he'd been acting about the April situation. But Lorelai wasn't convinced that Luke was all in.

"I thought that with Lucas being born that everything would go back to normal, but it hasn't," Lorelai said.

"Of course it has," Luke tried to convince her.

"No, it hasn't." Lorelai said. "We weren't like this before, this uncommunicative." Luke pulled over into a gas station parking lot. He needed to be able to look at his fiancée's face.

"I am all in," Luke said, quoting himself from their first date. But it didn't have the same resonance that it had had before. It actually hurt Lorelai to hear it. "I am dedicated to you, and our son," Luke told her. "I am not going to leave you, I have no desire to disappoint you."

Lorelai looked away. She couldn't admit to Luke that she'd already been disappointed. She felt like she was 16 again. She didn't want to be alone raising her child.

"Hey," Luke said. "You know I love you right?" Lorelai finally looked up at him. She'd never actually heard him say that he loved her. She realized she'd never really thought about it. She couldn't remember the last time a man had said he loved her.

"I need to hear that every once and a while," Lorelai said.

"I love you," Luke said. He'd finally said it for real. Asking her if she knew hadn't been the same as actually telling her. "I love you, and I'm going to marry you, and at our wedding, we are having lobster."

Lorelai smiled at him. He seemed sincere, or he was just more confident than she was. Luke smiled back and then kissed her. They were interrupted by a honk; they were in the gas station manager's parking space. They pulled apart, and drove off.

*AH! Sorry I took forever to update! I planned to take a small break from writing, but when I went to upload this at first, the website wouldn't let me log on. The problem was just fixed. I've already started writing the next chapter. So I am well on my way to updating daily like I did before. Thanks for reading. –DD *


	39. Chapter 39 Communication part 2

Chapter 39

On the way home, Luke saw a small church, and he got an idea.

"What about," he suggested, "eloping."

"What?" Lorelai said, in her "are you kidding?" tone.

"Eloping," Luke repeated. "We can do that right? Instead of planning this whole big thing?"

"I don't know," Lorelai said. "Maybe? I guess we could?" She thought about it for a second. "But Rory has to come, is it still eloping if Rory comes?"

"Sure, why not? Let's start planning it," Luke said.

"You don't plan an elopement," Lorelai told him. "You just do it."

"Oh right, that makes sense," Luke realized. "We can even go back to the vineyard to do it," Luke told her. "We can wait until Lucas is a little older, and rent a place for a couple weeks."

"Define older?" Lorelai asked. How soon would she and Luke finally tie the knot?"

"I dunno," Luke said, stumped. "The baby books might know."

"I don't remember reading the, 'proper age for infants to attend their parent's elopement,' chapter," Lorelai joked.

He'd probably be old enough by the summer," Luke said.

"June 3rd?" Lorelai asked, tensing herself for Luke's refusal. Luke's silence made her think she'd gone a risk too far.

"Maybe July 3rd," Luke 'compromised.' Lorelai silently groaned. She'd been so close, so close to getting back to their original plan. But Luke had once again prolonged it. Luke quickly glanced at Lorelai while he was driving. He'd made Lorelai doubt him again.

"If we elope, it won't matter when we do it," Luke told her. He hoped that logic would distract her.

"Right," Lorelai agreed.

Lorelai chose then to call Maisy; she'd given her phone a break for long enough. Like the other times she'd called, Lucas was fine. But it didn't matter. Lorelai had needed a distraction.

When Luke and Lorelai got back to the house, finally with their son again, Luke went to shower and Lorelai got on her laptop. In her absence per her right to maternity leave, she had asked her assistant Christie to email her a report every other day about how the Inn was doing. In her unread mail, there was an email from Christopher.

Dear Lor,

Hey Momma, how are you? I'm sure you're exhausted. Any time you need a babysitter, Uncle Christopher is on the job. I know you've witnessed me in some hard times taking care of G.G, but I think I'm a pro now (or at least, semi-pro). Anyhow, I thought I'd check in, and see how you're doing. And I thought I'd let you know (in case Rory didn't) that I will be attending the journalism panel coming up. Want to sit with me? Email me whenever, or hell even call. I'd love to hear from you.

-Chris

P.S- Hey, where's that picture I asked for?

This made Lorelai nauseas. Her up and down day with Luke had taken a toll on her; Christopher emailing her was just the cherry on top. She had no problem with Christopher, but she knew Luke did. She'd be sure to tell him about the panel. She wasn't going to keep this secret from him.

When Luke got out of the shower, Lorelai was still sitting at her laptop. Now was the best time to bring this up, right away.

"Christopher will be going to Rory's journalism panel," she told him.

"Okay?" Luke said. He thought that was a little random for Lorelai to bring up.

"Yeah," Lorelai said, getting up from her bed and going to take a shower herself.

When she was out of the room, Luke took a peak at her computer. The email Christopher had sent was still up. He read it, even though he knew Lorelai wouldn't approve. She claimed her relationship with Christopher was innocent, so an email from him shouldn't be something she'd hide from him. But the content of the email still irked Luke. Especially when he saw the email she'd sent Christopher.

It was short, but it had an attachment. The email just said, "Sure, that sounds great. I'll see you there, bring candy!" Followed by the attachment link.

The attachment link said, "Here ya go, figured I'd do as you asked. My little guy is in high demand."

It was a picture of Lucas, soon after being brought home from the hospital.

Luke looked away from the computer; he didn't want to think about it. Lorelai had better communication with her ex than she did with her fiancé. As upset as Luke was by this, he almost felt like he deserved it. Lorelai deserved to have a friend who she could have an easy relationship with. But why did it have to be Christopher?

* More drama! I've gotten a lot of comments begging me not to let Luke and Lorelai fall apart like they did on the show. I hated seeing them go through so much on the show, but I know how I want this story to go, so some pain between them will be inevitable. Don't worry though, despite how my story was originally written in my head, I won't let L/L be estranged for a year like they were on the show. It will work out. Just, have some faith. L/L are soul mates, their fate is sealed to be together, but with some bumps along the way (because fate loves that kind of thing). Also, if people are still interested in me putting my videos up on youtube of me reading my story aloud, let me know. I'm not going to do it if no one is interested. Thank you for reading. –DD *


	40. Chapter 40 The Month

Chapter 40

"The photo was absolutely adorable," Christopher said after giving Lorelai a hello hug. "Thanks."

"I'm not generally hesitant about showing my son off," Lorelai joked.

"He's definitely something to brag about," Christopher smiled.

"That's what everyone has said," Lorelai replied. "Or rather, they've said something along the lines of, 'Oh he's so cutsie-wootsie! I want to eat him up!' but what you said is far less creepy."

Christopher laughed. They both took their seats to watch Rory's panel.

Afterward, Lorelai and Christopher walked around talking about how much Rory impressed them. Then they got to talk about G.G. Apparently, Christopher needed a babysitter. As busy and Lorelai was with her own baby, she of course offered to help.

Lorelai arranged it so that Luke would bring Lucas along with him when he visited April that day. Luke couldn't say no, he knew his daughter liked having her little brother around. Plus, Luke still was having trouble knowing what to do around April, how to keep her entertained. He had decided that he'd be in April's life as much as she wanted him to be. But he didn't want to do anything to lose her.

G.G had only been at Lorelai's house for 5 minutes, and Lorelai had already realized she was glad to only have to watch one kid. G.G was hell on wheels. She didn't know how Christopher handled this girl. But after thinking about it, she realized. Christopher didn't have to deal with this that much, his nannies did. That's why they quit so often.

If Lorelai knew Christopher at all, she knew that whenever he was with his daughter, he must spoil her rotten. Christopher was more mature than he'd been when they were teens, but he was still immature enough to let his daughter get spoiled merely because he viewed it as letting her have fun. Lorelai would have to talk to him about this. It wasn't any of her business she knew. But, unlike with Luke, Christopher let her share her opinions about things. So she was going to do it.

Christopher of course was outraged by Lorelai's assertion about his daughter. But he later called her and said she was right. Christopher could never stay mad at Lorelai for long. Lorelai only wished she and Luke could be like that.

After her long day with G.G, Lorelai decided to call Rory before Luke got home with the baby. She found out about Rory's new living arrangement, she was out of Logan's apartment. Lorelai was sad to hear that her daughter was hurting. But before they could talk too in depth about it, Luke got home. Lorelai knew two things at that moment. A). Luke would be ready to go to bed because he'd probably had a long day as well because he'd been entertaining two kids. And B). If he found out about what happened to Rory and Logan, he'd get upset. Rory was like a daughter to him. Luke didn't like seeing her hurt.

So Lorelai hung up, Rory hadn't been that in to talking too much about it yet. She'd just let her mother know the bulleted points. She got ready to sleep. Luke surprisingly cuddled up to her. She liked it, they'd been distant for so long.

"Our son is a month old now," Luke whispered in her ear.

"Amazing isn't it?" Lorelai whispered back. "He's still alive, we're doing something right."

"We've got his schedule down, he seems comfortable here," Luke said.

"Think he's ready for the big leagues?" Lorelai asked.

"What's that?" Luke asked.

"Venturing out, past our house and our friends," Lorelai told him.

"You want to expose him to the town?" Luke asked.

"I think he can handle it," Lorelai said. "We don't have to do too much yet, just let him come to the diner, take him on a stroll around town. It's getting warmer."

"I guess we can try that," Luke agreed. They were still whispering. Lucas was sleeping in his crib just 5 feet away from them.

"We ought to get some sleep now," Lorelai told Luke, snuggling deeper into the covers. "L.J will be crying again in an hour."

Before Luke could get relaxed, his son started to wail.

"So much for knowing his schedule," Luke said at an inside volume. He started to get up, but Lorelai pulled him back.

"You got him all day today," she said. "It's my turn now."

"Whatever you say," Luke said, lying back down. He watched Lorelai in the dark, with only the moonlight to make her visible. He watched her get ready to breastfeed, without feeling remotely disgusted or awkward. He was finally used to it, breast-feeding didn't bother him.

"It only took me a month," Luke thought. When Lorelai got back into bed, she and Luke finally went to sleep.

In New Haven, Rory was still awake. She was still slightly drunk, and she was in the hallway of Paris's apartment listening to Logan beg for her to come back. She decided to go back to him, but she still hadn't forgiven him. She went home with him, and they went to bed. Logan fell asleep easily, he seemed confident that they were okay again. Rory didn't fall asleep so easily. She couldn't stand being in bed with him. She planned to go to Stars Hollow in the morning. She needed a break. She'd said yes to go back to him, because she knew she still loved him, and would have gone back to him eventually. But she needed a break from him. She didn't care if he minded.


	41. Chapter 41 Incriminating

Chapter 41

"Rory's here!" Lorelai exclaimed when she saw Rory outside the diner.

"She is?" Luke said, seeing her for himself.

"She's outside, bouncing around with Lane!"

"How come she came home?" Luke asked.

"I don't know? Bouncing lessons?" Lorelai joked.

Rory and Lane ran in giddy and excited. Lane was engaged. Lorelai was happy for Lane, but before they could talk too much about it, Lane was called away by a customer. So Lorelai decided to focus on her daughter. Luke had been partially right; it was odd that Rory was home.

Rory apparently needed a Stars Hollow fix. And according to her, she and Logan were fine. She'd done a 180, the previous night she'd been down about Logan. And now they were back on. Lorelai wanted to know more, but Rory's cheerful 'whatever' attitude made it impossible. But Lorelai knew her daughter would break eventually.

Lorelai tried to get some work done before devoting her day to Rory. Now that Lucas was a month old she felt he was ready to have a babysitter: Liz. Not Lorelai's first choice of babysitter, even though Liz was Lucas's aunt. But, Liz had no real job other than making jewelry in her home. T.J was usually out of the house, so Lorelai and Luke felt Liz's house was a safe place for their son.

On their way out of the Inn, they ended up sitting down to talk to Emily on the phone. They had fun listening to Emily and Richard squabble about the GPS system. But Lorelai ended up getting her butt kicked by karma, when she made a really bad joke.

"Next time, you guys should call before you head out. You could have stopped by." Lorelai laughed silently at her own joke.

"Well we still could," Emily said to her daughter's shock. "…We were only planning to stay at the estate sale for a little while."

"What? No! No! You guys have already gone way past Stars Hollow!" Lorelai begged.

"It's no problem," Emily assured Lorelai. "We don't mind going out of our way. We haven't seen Lucas in ages!"

"But…But?" Lorelai babbled. "I don't want you guys to have to make a special trip." Lorelai ended up accidentally telling them that Rory was visiting that day. She'd thought that would make them change their minds because they'd think they were intruding on the girls' time together. But that only made them want to come more.

"Now we will be able to see both of our grandchildren!" Emily said excitedly. Richard nodded in agreement. "You haven't been coming to Friday night dinners lately because the baby has kept you busy. Why didn't we think of this before? We'll come to you!"

"Damn it…" Lorelai said after she hung up the phone. Since her time spent with her grandparents while living with them, Rory was much like her mother when it came to spending time with Emily and Richard. She didn't have as many issues as Lorelai did with them, but she wasn't so excited to see them like she used to always be.

"Are you sure this isn't just an elaborate scheme to get me to help you clean your house?" Rory asked her mom as she followed her around.

"Most of this mess is from your sister being here," Lorelai said. But, she was picking up things that weren't necessarily trash. Mail. Magazines. Pillows?

"Just throw away or hide anything incriminating," Lorelai told her daughter.

"Incriminating?" Rory asked. Lorelai felt that if there was anything interesting or gods forbid conversation starting in her house, her parents would stay too long. Rory understood why her mom thought this, but she had a 'but.'

"I'm sure Grandma could have a fun time insulting you over a sparse house," Rory said. "The house needs to look nice, impressive." Lorelai was ignoring her. "I know you care about what they think," Rory told her mother.

"Fine," Lorelai gave in. "Impressive," Lorelai told herself. How could she make this place impressive? She and Rory as speedily as they could, organized things. Despite what Lorelai was originally worried about, they made the house seem homey and 'impressive.' Emily would never be completely proud of anything of Lorelai's, but she'd at least have less bad things to say.

In about 5 minutes, the first floor looked nice. Lorelai had already cleaned the night before after the G.G massacre. Plus, the first floor had rarely been used. Most of their time had been spent with the baby upstairs. It was her room that needed some work. But Lorelai had forgotten about it.

When Sookie arrived with the food, Lorelai panicked again. She'd brought food her parents would hate. Why? Because Sookie as lovable as she was, was also not too great at paying attention. Somehow she'd thought Lorelai was having cravings. Pregnancy cravings.

"I just gave birth last month!" Lorelai said, aggravated. "What would make you think I was pregnant again?"

"I hear women can be extra fertile after giving birth," Sookie said.

"Did you also hear that it is best to not have intercourse until at least 6 weeks after birth?" Lorelai asked. "The most touching Luke and I have done is a freaking hand shake practically."

"Okay fine you're not pregnant," Sookie conceded. Or it seemed she did. She was watching Lorelai closely, some how she was not convinced.

"I'm not pregnant!" Lorelai yelled annoyed.

"Okay! Fine!" Sookie claimed. But she was still going to keep an eye on her best friend.

"Grandma and Grandpa's Jag is here!" Lorelai alerted her mother.

"What?" Lorelai squeaked, her mouth was full. "I didn't hear them drive up! Did you hear them drive up?"

"No," Rory said, she was calmer than her mother.

"Where the hell are they?" Lorelai asked.

"I don't know!" Rory squeaked, she was getting more nervous because of the tone her mother had set.

Rory and Lorelai rushed out to investigate. Liz came in the back door bringing Lucas home.

"Where's the fire?" She asked Sookie. Sookie took Lucas out of her hands.

"Her parents are here," Sookie said.

"Yikes, I better scram," Liz said. She'd heard stories about Lorelai's parents. Liz headed out the back door, crossing through neighbors' yards.

"The engine's cold!" Rory said, checking the car.

"Maybe they have been taken!" Lorelai jokingly hypothesized. She even looked up at the sky for merit.

The girls turned to see Emily coming around the corner of the house. Like any 'good' lady, Emily had decided to inspect her surroundings before actually announcing she was at her daughter's house. Emily got a chance to be snide about Lorelai's supposed bad paint job before Richard popped out of his own inspection place. He'd found Luke's boat.

"Well well, I can't believe you've had so much work done," Emily marveled.

"Mom, you've been here recently," Lorelai reminded her.

"Well, I hardly noticed the changes, I was too busy focusing on my grandson. She'd also been too distracted by April to notice anything other than the fact that some 'stranger' was horning in on her family.

"Is that girl here now?" Emily asked. She had no trouble admitting she didn't like April.

"No," Lorelai replied.

"Well, where's my grandson then?" Richard asked. There was a basinet in the corner of the living room that was empty.

"He's upstairs," Sookie answered, coming in from the kitchen.

"He is?" Lorelai said astonished.

"Lorelai," Emily said. "You didn't know where your own child was?" Emily had a field day with that one.

"He was at Liz's house," Sookie told them. "She brought him in a few minutes ago while the girls were outside."

"I see," Emily said.

"I would have put him in that basinet," Sookie continued. "But I didn't notice it until now."

"This is generally when he naps isn't it mom?" Rory asked.

"Yes," Lorelai said. "We shouldn't disturb him."

"Well, there's time for that later," Richard said. He hadn't seen his grandson much either since the birth. He'd been swamped with work until today.

Lorelai tried to direct her family to the kitchen. The sooner they ate the sooner her parents would leave. But somehow, Emily managed to sneak away from the group, and up the stairs. She wanted to see her grandson now.

"Grandma?" Rory called out.

"I'm up here!" they heard her voice calling. "Richard, come have a look," she called out. She hadn't been expecting the upstairs to be different.

"Where are you?" Richard asked.

"In the bedroom," she said.

"3 minutes gone they are already in my bedroom," Lorelai said astonished and impressed.

"A bedroom that I did not clean, and it still resembles what it did the last you saw it," Rory said.

"Oh boy," Lorelai said. Her mother was going to have a fit.


	42. Chapter 42 Changes

Chapter 42

While Richard and Emily were marveling the wallpaper and the room's new structure, Rory and Lorelai quickly pulled the blankets back up and kicked clothes under the bed. They weren't able to get to the bathroom before her parents could look at it though. So they had some explaining to do about that.

"Is your bathroom always this cluttered?" Emily asked. The sink counter had open toothpastes, shaving cream spatter stuck to the marble, knocked over facial washes and creams, and to Lorelai's horror: her breast pump. Not to mention some towels and clothes were on the floor too.

"Uh," Lorelai stammered, trying to stealthily put the pump into the drawer. "Luke and I have been too busy to clean. You know, with the baby, and work."

"Are you back at work Lorelai?" Richard asked.

"Just started back today," Lorelai told them.

"So that's why you're dressed like a proper human being," Emily said judgmentally.

"Excuse me?" Lorelai asked.

"Last time I was here you were wearing a shirt that could double as a car cover, and ill fitting sweat pants," Emily said. Apparently Emily didn't approve of Lorelai's previous leisurewear.

"Well since I was cooped up in the house and taking care of a messy and exhausting baby, I didn't think my outfit mattered that much," Lorelai told her mother, trying to act like what her mother had said was easy to brush off.

"You should make an effort when you have company over," Emily told her daughter, as if her daughter previously had no sense to do that.

"I figured I had the right to use the 'I just gave birth,' card the first 2 weeks, mom," Lorelai said. Emily wouldn't be Emily if she didn't make a fuss over things that couldn't be changed. But Lorelai was dressed, "properly" now. So ha!

"Well despite some understandable mess," Richard said, trying to smooth things over. "You house looks very nice."

"Thank you, dad," Lorelai said. Then Lucas started to make a little noise.

"Oh, Master Lucas is awake," Rory said.

"Oh I must attend to my prince!" Lorelai joked, going over to her baby.

"Well he's certainly treated well around here," Richard said, he found his daughter and granddaughter to be adorable with the baby.

"Well I'm just enjoying my time before the terrible twos arrive," Lorelai joked. She picked up her son and checked his seat. "Time for changing," she said. She took him over to his changing table, and shocked her parents when she arranged a contraption connected to the changing table, made out of a flexible lamp neck and a pot lid.

"What on earth is that?" Emily asked.

"It's something Luke made," Lorelai said laughing and rolling her eyes. "To stop us from being sprayed." And to show exactly what she meant, Lucas ended up peeing while he was being changed, but the urine hit the lid, instead of Lorelai.

"Well, that's certainly….creative?" Richard said. "Is this invention commonly used?"

"I don't know how Luke got the idea," Lorelai said. "But after L.J had sprayed Luke and the wall more than twice, Luke made the shield."

"It looks rather silly," Emily said.

"Trust me," Lorelai said, picking Lucas up and looking at her mother. "A pee stained blouse looks even sillier."

After Richard and Emily each got to hold Lucas and ask more about how he was doing, the family went downstairs to eat. Lorelai tried her best to have the meal go by fast, but it wasn't easy. She soon learned that having patches of silence throughout the meal made it a little easier to handle. It was when her parent's started asking questions that the dinner got awkward.

Luke ended up coming home during the dinner after Emily had asked Lorelai about staying in Stars Hollow in this small house. Luke generally came to the house around this time of night to have time with his son. Lorelai had been too busy with her parents to warn him not to come.

"Hello?" Luke called out.

"We're in here!" Lorelai called, but then she realized she'd let Luke into the ring without gloves. Whoops.

"Is Rory still here?" Luke asked as he walked through the foyer. But when he entered the kitchen he knew what she'd meant. "Uh, hi…" Luke said to his future in-laws.

"Why hello Luke," Richard said. "Are you joining us for dinner?"

"Oh, I had a…late lunch," Luke told them, trying to pass. He went to Lorelai and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He felt weird being affectionate with her in front of Lorelai's parents. It didn't matter that Lorelai was almost 38 and she'd recently given birth to his son, Luke always felt like a teenager when in front of his fiancée's parents. "Is L.J still asleep?" Luke asked Lorelai. Luke was still getting used to the fact that babies sleep roughly 16 hours a day.

"Uh, last time I checked," Lorelai said, knowing how awkward Luke felt.

"Well, I'll go…check on him," Luke said, backing up. He got to the stairs and raced up them.

"So, are you and Luke officially live together now?" Emily asked. She'd asked her daughter this before, the last Friday night dinner Lorelai had attended. But some time had past since then.

"Well, he sleeps here and only leaves the house to go to work or to spend time with his daughter," Lorelai told him. "So I guess you could say he lives here."

"You 'could' say?" Emily asked.

"Well, we are still working on consolidating and moving him in," Lorelai said.

"You shouldn't wait to long on insurance," Richard said.

"We've been busy dad," Lorelai reminded him.

"Well…" Richard started to say.

"No more insurance stories!" Lorelai told him panicky.

"Would anyone like some coffee?" Rory asked, trying to keep a fight from erupting.

"We'd love to," Richard said. "But we need to leave, look at the time Emily."

"Oh goodness," Emily said, looking at her watch. "I didn't realize it was so late."

"Yes, who knew that 3 hours and 14 minutes could go by so fast?" Lorelai said speedily. Rory scolded her mother with a look. "Well I certainly didn't…" Lorelai said innocently.

When her parents left, the girls deflated. They were tired from all the work they had to put in for the Gilmores. They talked about going to the movies and then Rory brought up Anna. She wanted to know what Lorelai knew. Since Lorelai had only seen Anna the day she'd come to Stars Hollow to tell Luke about April, Lorelai didn't have much to say about her. She shared what the town had told her, but that wasn't much. She rebuffed Rory's desire to go to Woodbridge to see Anna.

"She knows what we look like," Lorelai reminded Rory.

"She doesn't know what Paris looks like," Rory said mischievously.

"We are not sicking Paris on Anna,"

"Then what do you suggest?" Rory asked.

"Uh, nothing," Lorelai said. "I don't need to know what Anna is like. I'm getting to know April, and that's all that matters."

"Saying 'hello, how's school, and goodbye' is not getting to know her," Rory said insultingly.

"Stay out of it Rory," Lorelai scolded.

"You can't just do nothing," Rory said.

"I'm not doing nothing," Lorelai told her daughter. "This process is going to take a while. Right now I'm focusing on my own children."

"I still think you should be doing more," Rory said, looking away folding her arms.

"I am," Lorelai told her. "But, slowly."

"Okay," Rory conceded, for now.

The girls picked a movie, and started to head out. Lorelai called up to Luke telling him where they were going. The girls were in too big a rush to wait for Luke's response.

Little did they know, that Luke had been listening to their conversation about Anna and April. Luke stood in the hallway and thought about it. Rory was right, Lorelai did need to get to know April better. When Luke heard his son start to cry, he headed for the bedroom to go take care of him. While he was feeding his son a bottle, he decided. When he and April got home from the school trip, he was going to include Lorelai more. He'd bring Lorelai along on one of his and April's outings, or he'd ask Anna to let April sleep over. Whatever they did, he was going to let it happen. He didn't have 2 families, he had one. His family was: Liz, T.J (unfortunately), Jess, April, Lucas Jr., and Lorelai.

Not only was he going to include Lorelai in his life with April, but he was going to make another big change. Their wedding date would again and forever going to be: June 3rd. He just needed to decide when to tell Lorelai. It wasn't something he could just throw out there. It was important. It had to be special.


	43. Chapter 43 Baby vs Bath

Chapter 43

Luke heard the girls come home after the movie, but he didn't go downstairs to see them. He was still trying to figure out how to tell Lorelai about the changes. He ended up deciding that telling her after an exhausting day with her parents wouldn't be a good idea.

He ended up going downstairs when he smelled pizza. When he went into the kitchen, the girls were eating silently. They looked exhausted.

"So, how was the movie?" Luke asked.

"We ended up dozing off during it," Lorelai said.

"Biggest waste of 3 bucks," Rory said.

The girls seemed down, Luke knew this was definitely not the right time to tell them the news. Sure it might bring them out of their bad mood, but just mentioning it to them seemed sort of lame. Luke wanted to make a special night out of it. He'd find a way.

Luke took a piece of pizza, and sat down. Lorelai broke out of her trance to talk to him.

"How was Lucas while we were gone?" Lorelai asked.

"Good," Luke replied. "I think he might be getting a rash though."

"Are you changing him often enough?" Lorelai asked.

"I was only with him for 2 hours," Luke said. "How often is necessary?"

Lorelai laughed at Luke's annoyance. They could probably make a fun bit out of this.

"Now that his umbilical cord has fallen off, and his circumcision has healed," Lorelai said. "It's time for his full on bath."

"Sponge baths on the changing table don't count?" Luke asked.

"We need to expose him to, 'the tub.'" Lorelai said

"Duh duh duhhhhhh!" Rory said mock dramatically.

"Okay," Luke said. "Should we do it tonight?" Luke seemed to think it would be easy.

"Oh, sure," Lorelai said mischievously. "You can do it."

Rory looked at her mother, Lorelai was being evil.

They finished their pizza, and then Lorelai and Luke headed upstairs. Rory elected to wait in the living room. She knew what was about to go down.

Lorelai got out the small baby tub and put it on the counter in the bathroom. She filled it with water the baby could handle. Luke undressed L.J and brought him over. Lorelai watched Luke; she tried to have her face not betray what she was really thinking. Luke was going down.

Luke slowly placed Lucas in the water. As soon as the baby realized how his surroundings had changed, he started to wail. Luke hadn't been expecting his son to freak out like this.

"What am I doing wrong?" Luke asked, lifting his son out of the tub. "Is it too hot?"

"Nope, it's the perfect temperature," Lorelai said. "Didn't you know, Luke?" she asked innocently. "Babies fear the unknown, he's not likely to enjoy this."

"Maybe you should do it," Luke said, offering her the wet and frightened baby.

"No, you need to learn how to do it," she said, backing up. "I'm a veteran."

Luke slowly but the baby back into the tub. Lorelai stood next to him telling him step by step how to do things. Luke did as she said, trying not to let the baby know he was just as scared.

After the bath, Luke looked over at Lorelai, he knew now that she'd been having fun with him.

"You're despicable you know that?" Luke said, wrapping his son in a towel. He went over the rocking chair so he could soothe the baby.

"Hehehe…I'm wicked!" Lorelai said in a silly voice, further proving what he said. The first big bath is an experience every parent needs to have."

"But you had the better seat for this one," Luke said. "Your view was quite a bit different."

"Yes, but I gave Rory her first bath," Lorelai said. "So I understand the sheer terror and guilt."

"Will he cry every time?" Luke asked.

"Now that he knows what it's like, he might not be as annoyed next time," Lorelai said. She went over to her men, and sat on the armrest. "I'll take the next one."

"Oh sure," Luke said. "The easy one." Lorelai laughed, and she kissed Luke's head, and bent down to kiss her son.

"When you're older," she whispered to Lucas. "I'll pay you five bucks for giving your dad hell tonight."

"You fiend," Luke said giving her a raised eye brow. But then he smiled. He couldn't stay mad at Lorelai right now. Not when he had a big surprise planned for her. He couldn't wait to tell her. And he now knew how he would do it.

The next night, before Lorelai got home, Luke started to execute his plan. He did something that was a little trite, but he knew Lorelai would love. He lit candles in their bedroom, and placed rose petals on the floor. He got Rory to stay a little longer at the house to watch Lucas downstairs, while Luke surprised Lorelai. Luke decided to not tell Rory what his surprise was. He knew Lorelai would enjoy telling her daughter the news.

When Lorelai got home, Luke heard her enter, and turned on some music. Rory did as Luke had told her, and told her mother Luke was waiting in the bedroom for her. Lorelai couldn't imagine what Luke was up to.

When Lorelai opened her bedroom doors, she saw what Luke had done. Luke came out of the bathroom, holding one individual long stem rose.

"What's this?" Lorelai asked. It seemed sort of random.

"Remember when the town gave me crap over not being the one to propose to you?" Luke asked her.

"Uh, yeah," Lorelai said. "But it's a little late for that now isn't it?"

"Not for what I'm proposing," Luke said. Then he got down on one knee, the position he hadn't gotten to take to her before, because she'd beaten him to it. "Lorelai Gilmore," Luke said. "Will you marry me, on June 3rd?"

Lorelai was stunned, she hadn't understood the importance of Luke proposing to her again until now. He'd said June 3rd. June 3rd!

"Marry me on June 3rd, at Martha's Vineyard, on the beach," Luke said. "Get to know my daughter more, and let me move in completely."

Lorelai couldn't believe this was happening. Had Luke overheard her conversation with Rory the day before? What had brought this on? Luke stayed on his knee, until he was done talking.

"I hate how I've been lately, and I'm tired of just saying I'll change. I want, to change."

"I'm…" Lorelai started to say. After Luke's long speech, did she just reply yes or no? Should she say something more? "I've been hoping this would happen eventually," Lorelai finally said.

"Is that a yes, or no?" Luke asked. His eyes glistened, he looked at her with the most love she had ever seen.

"…Yes," Lorelai said. She took a sharp breath, realizing the enormity of what she just said. Sure they were already engaged, but she was making a big change. A change from an indefinite wedding date, to a definite one. One that was just 2 and a half months away.

"Yes!" she said, in a more for sure tone. "Absolutely yes!"

Luke stood up, and took her in an embrace. He'd found a way to do it. Lorelai seemed happier than she'd been in a long time.

But while they were hugging, Lorelai's face changed from happiness, to panic. Now that she knew for sure when she was getting married, she was now nervous. She had to start planning again, send out invitations, a marriage license? What was that nonsense? Lorelai was now a wreck.

Luke could feel Lorelai shaking. He could tell by her face what she was thinking about.

"I'm going to help you with everything this time," Luke told her. Your BFOTB or whatever better take a side position."

"Sookie will love that," Lorelai said, happy tears in her eyes.

"I will fight to the death, to have this wedding go exactly how we want it," Luke told her.

"I'm going to hold you to that," Lorelai told him. Luke kissed her, and held her so tight that she had no choice but to stop shaking.

Lorelai went downstairs, very jittery. Rory looked up at her, She had just sat down after putting L.J in his basinet.

"What's going on? Rory asked. She was worried.

Lorelai paused before answering. But after a few seconds she couldn't hold it in any longer.

"I'm getting married on June 3rd!" She screamed. Rory jumped up and hugged her mother. The girls started screaming together and jumping up and down. Luke stood on the landing of the stairs, watching how happy they were. He was glad to know he'd done this for them.


	44. Chapter 44 Mind Reader

Chapter 44

"Why won't Anna just let April sleep over tonight?" Lorelai asked Luke. He had just gone over the itinerary for the 2-week school trip. They had just gotten back from having L.J's month old photos taken.

"Oh, I didn't ask," Luke said. He hadn't really thought about it. Lorelai realized she had just assumed Anna had said no.

"It might be a good idea," Lorelai told him. "That way you could go right from here to the school, quicker trip."

"Yeah," Luke said. "But April lives in Woodbridge where her school is. They live only a quarter mile away from it."

"Oh," Lorelai said. Right, that was true. "Well, have her sleep over anyway."

"What?" Luke asked her.

"Well why not?" Lorelai asked. "You said you wanted she and I to get to know each other better. Why wait two weeks?" 'Why wait two weeks where you could have had time to change your mind,' was what she was thinking.

"I guess we could do that," Luke said. "Would she sleep here?"

"I would think so," Lorelai said. "You know, considering you sleep here."

"Where would she sleep?" Luke asked.

"Rory's room," Lorelai told him.

Luke was too overwhelmed by the concept of spending more than 5 hours with his daughter to think straight. He'd never had her overnight before. What would it be like? He'd have to serve her breakfast as well as dinner. And when it was time to go to bed, did he kiss her goodnight? Did he read to her? What?

"She's 12…" Lorelai said to Luke. Somehow his fiancée knew what he was thinking. Of course she knew Luke was totally clueless about what 12 year olds do. He had actually asked April once if she wanted to color.

"I'll call Anna and try to arrange it," Luke said.

"April has been here before, Anna trusts you, and she's technically met me," Lorelai reminded him. She knew that he'd need argument points.

Luke called Anna, and of course she wasn't confident that this was a good idea. But she and Lorelai ended up talking on the phone, so that she could have a better idea of what she was like. Lorelai was the master at getting people to do things they didn't want to. Anna was harder to crack than Lorelai's usual victims, but after about 10 minutes she and Luke together got through to Anna.

Luke then left to go pick up April. Lorelai stayed behind with the baby. When April arrived, the first few minutes were a lot like the previous visit she'd had here. Lots of silence, with a side of awkward. But Lorelai ended up bonding with April over something: teen pregnancy. Of all things.

"I love your shield," April said, when she was in the bedroom with Lorelai. She'd handed her brother off to Lorelai when he started to smell.

"It is handy," Lorelai said. "She tried to look at her future step daughter while working on her son. "I wasn't kidding a couple weeks ago when I said you could babysit him whenever you like. But, that would include taking initiative when your little brother, 'starts to smell.'"

"I know," April said. "But I'm just always worried that I won't do it right. I don't want to be one of those people who just duct tapes the diapers on."

Lorelai laughed hard at that. She knew someone who had done that before.

"My daughter's father did that with his second child," she told April. "And your dad had trouble figuring out the diaper tabs. But he was a genius with cloth diapers. I think it has something to do with camping."

"You were really young when you had your daughter, right?" April asked.

"Uh, yes, 16," Lorelai told her. She started to feel a little uncomfortable. It seemed Luke hadn't told his daughter too much about it.

"Well, I only assumed," April said. "I mean, not that it couldn't be believable that you are older than you look…" Apparently April felt that was a compliment. "But I saw a photo of you and your daughter, you look like sisters."

"I was very young when I had her," Lorelai said.

"Did you want to be a teen mom?" April asked.

"I didn't think that's a common desire," Lorelai said.

"These days," April said. "Teenagers are getting pregnant on purpose."

"Well, that was not my case," Lorelai told April.

"No, you are far too sensible and mature for that," April said.

Lorelai considered telling the girl that at 16 she hadn't been that. It was when she was far along in her teen pregnancy that the maturity got there. She had considered running off and dropping her responsibility until she finally laid her eyes on Rory.

"I hope there aren't pregnant girls in your grade," Lorelai said.

"No. Not yet anyway," April said. Lorelai gave her a look. A look saying, 'should I be worried about you?' "

It won't be me," April said.

"Good," Lorelai told her. "Because Luke might be over 40, but he's not old enough to be a grandfather yet."

"Ha ha, I know that," April said with a laugh. "But, your mom must have been in her 40's when you gave birth to your daughter." Lorelai didn't respond to that. As upset as Emily and Richard had been back in 1984, they didn't mind being 60 something grandparents to a college age girl. April was a very logical and scientific person. She was very literal. She had to break the joke with facts. Lorelai would have to impart some of her comical expertise on this girl.

Luke, Lorelai, and April ended up eating at the diner, and coming home to watch a movie. Luke and April had to leave in the morning, so they didn't stay up late. April went to sleep in Rory's room. But when Luke came downstairs to get a bottle for L.J, he saw the downstairs bedroom light on.

"Hey," Luke said to his daughter, pushing the door open. "We have to get up in 4 hours young lady."

"I know," April said. "Rory just has a lot of great books in here. Did you know I found most of them piled under the bed?"

"Yeah, she has some in the dresser drawers too," Luke said, just stating a fun fact. "Lights. Off."

"Yes, Dad…" April said. It was the first time she'd called him that. Luke felt really awkward. But he smiled and said,

"Good night, hun."

She smiled at him and then turned off the light. Luke went back up the stairs. But little did he know, that April had her cell phone to use as a light. But, little did April know, but Lorelai was Super Mom. When Luke came upstairs, and told Lorelai that he'd caught April still awake, but he'd gotten her to turn the light off with no fuss, Lorelai knew better. She walked down to the landing and called out,

"No flashlight or cell phone either! Bed!" Lorelai hadn't done that to be mean or strict, she did it to show Luke he was still a padawan, and she knew April would get a kick out of Lorelai's apparent psychic mom ability.

"You win!" April called out. And then she put down her cell phone, and went to sleep. She liked Lorelai. She liked her a lot.


	45. Chapter 45 Truth and Real Estate

Chapter 45

Luke got in an argument with Cesar about holding down the fort. Lorelai followed them through the diner, carrying L.J in his carrier seat. He would be 2 months old by the time Luke came back from the trip. Luke wondered how much his son would change in 2 weeks. Luke finally convinced Cesar that he would be fine.

"Do you mind stepping back a few feet so I can say goodbye to my family?" Luke asked Cesar. April was already waiting in the truck. They needed to get on the road. Lorelai put Lucas down so she could say goodbye to her fiancé.

"You gonna miss me?" Luke asked.

"Especially at night with the baby," Lorelai joked.

"I'm gonna call you a lot."

"Same here."

"You know, I was happy when she asked me, but now it just struck me: I'm going to spend 2 weeks with a bus full of teenagers, and it will be the first time I've gone more than 10 hours without seeing my son."

"I think you're ready," Lorelai told him. "2 weeks isn't enough time for Lucas to forget you."

"I hope you're right," Luke said. He kissed her, and then he bent down to say goodbye to his son.

"You be good buddy, alright?" Lucas gave his dad eye contact, but didn't do much, he was sleepy. "Don't give mommy too much trouble."

"That's a tall order," Lorelai said, looking down at her men.

"I think he can be a good boy, can't ya buddy?" Luke said, tickling his son. Lucas finally smiled a toothless grin. "Did he just smile?" Luke asked.

Lorelai bent over to get a closer look at her son. Upon being able to see his mom's face, he smiled again.

"I think it's safe to say…" Lorelai said in awe. She was remembering how it had felt when Rory had her first smile. It made her speechless. "Remembering that face should get you through the next two weeks."

"I'll say," Luke said. He tickled his son again, and then stood up. He gave Lorelai one last hug, and then he received a honk from his truck. His daughter was impatient. "I better go…" he said. He gave his fiancée and baby boy one last look, and then he was off. But not before having to alert Cesar to the fact that Kirk had staged a mild diner coup.

"Kirk!" Cesar yelled, and he ran in to stop the town idiot from taking over. Lorelai picked L.J up and watch the silly argument between Stars Hollow's most loveable. After the guys got out of her eye line, she hefted Lucas into her car, his car seat made him heavier. She had some stops to make.

"Hey Dad!" Lorelai said. She didn't usually go to her Dad's office. But ever since Lucas had been born, Richard had said (though how serious he'd been Lorelai wasn't sure) to stop by to visit.

"Lorelai!" Richard said. "This is a surprise, I'm…not really free to chit chat…"

"Oh I'm not going to be here long," Lorelai said. "I just thought I'd stop by and drop off this." She held out a 4x6 framed photo of Lucas.

"Oh," Richard said, taking a breath, relieved he didn't have to entertain for long. "This is nice, where was this taken?"

"Sears," Lorelai said. "Don't tell Mom," she whispered behind her hand.

"Oh I know your mother would have a conniption about getting a photo taken at a garden center."

"There's more to it than that," Lorelai laughed.

"I'll put this with the other one," Richard said, turning around in his seat.

"What other one?" Lorelai asked. Richard handed her another photo that was framed. It was one taken at the hospital, It seemed to be a candid shot that Richard had took while Emily had her turn holding the baby. It was cute, a grandmother-grandson bonding moment.

"You can see Lucas a lot better in your photo," Richard said. "Now I'll have a newer one to show off to my clients."

"You've been showing him off have you?" Lorelai asked. She thought it was awfully cute of her dad to do that.

"Who wouldn't?" Richard asked, smiling at his daughter. The baby had made them a little closer.

"Well, I don't want to take up too much of your time," Lorelai said. "I just thought I'd drop this off."

"That's fine, thank you," Richard said. Lorelai started to head out with Lucas, Richard looked back down at his work. When Lorelai got to the doorway, she had something she felt she had to ask. The previous week, she had found out from Kirk that her parents were looking at homes in Stars Hollow.

"Dad?" Lorelai said.

"Yes?" Richard responded.

"Why are you and mom looking at houses in Stars Hollow?"

Richard put his work down. Lorelai had found out. He decided not to beat around the bush.

"I know you might not like this…" Richard started to say.

"Why on earth would you want to live in Stars Hollow?" Lorelai asked.

"What?" Richard asked her back.

"You've never cared much for where I live."

"Lorelai…"

"Why Dad? How would living farther away from work help your stress? Are you retiring?"

"Lorelai!" 

"What!"

"The house isn't for us. It's for you," Richard said.

"What?" Lorelai asked, a different inflection this time.

"We are buying you a house, for a wedding present," Richard told her.

"You've got to be kidding me," Lorelai said astounded.

"We love what you've done with your house," Richard said. "But, with your baby, and the fact that both you and Luke each have other children, that house is too small."

"Rory and April only visit," Lorelai said. "Once L.J is older he will be moved into Rory's room full time. The house is fine."

"It's not just that," Richard said.

"Then what?" Lorelai asked. Richard looked back down at his work. He really didn't have time for this.

"Your mother can explain it further," Richard told her. "If you are free right now, I can call her and tell her you're coming over."

Lorelai took a moment to think about it. She had some free time; she'd taken the day off to catch up on errands.

"Call her," Lorelai said. And then she and the baby headed out. Richard called to his secretary, and asked her to call Emily.

"Tell her," Richard said to his flustered secretary. "That, Lorelai knows." The secretary was confused. "She'll know what I meant." Richard told her. And then he closed his door, and tried to get back to work. It wasn't easy.


	46. Chapter 46 Gift Return

Chapter 46

Lorelai approached the Gilmore Mansion, carrying her son in his ridiculously heavy carrier. She didn't understand how this was an easier way for parents to carry their babies around. Other than the fact that it gave the crook of her arm a break.

The maid answered the door. She looked American, but Lorelai wasn't sure. Lorelai didn't care.

"I'm hear to see Emily Gilmore," Lorelai told the maid. The maid gave Lorelai the once over. The Gilmores didn't commonly have guests with small infants. Since the maid was new (of course) she didn't know this was the Gilmore's daughter. She thought this was some distraught mother of Mr. Gilmore's love child or something.

"And you are?" the maid asked.

"Their daughter," Lorelai said, annoyed.

"Oh!" the maid said, realized what a mistake she'd made. Would Mrs. Gilmore fire her for this? She'd heard from the agency that her job here would probably only be temporary. She stepped aside for Lorelai to enter. "I'm Nancy," she said. She thought she should introduce herself, in case she had this job a while.

"Hi Nancy, don't get comfortable here," Lorelai said. "And I mean that in the nicest possible way," Lorelai added. Emily came into the foyer from the living room. She'd gotten the call from Richard's terrified secretary, but being Emily, she had insisted the woman put her husband on the phone. So Emily knew for sure, Lorelai was here about the wedding gift.

"Lorelai lets go sit down," Emily said. She placed her hand on her daughter's shoulder and walked her into the living room. Lorelai set LJ's carrier down by the couch, and sat down. Emily sat on the couch across from her.

The women sat there in silence for a moment, but Emily soon found a way to start her talk with her daughter.

"Your father said that he told you why we wanted to get you the house?"

"A wedding gift," Lorelai said.

"Yes, but of all gifts we could get you, do you know why we chose that?" Emily asked.

"You think our house is too small." Lorelai stated.

"Yes," Emily said. "And it is." Emily took a breath, and continued. "Lorelai, that house of yours was fine when it was just you and Rory. But now it's you and your soon to be husband, along with a baby. That's 3 people. That house is better suited for a newly married couple with no children."

"It has two bedrooms," Lorelai reminded her.

"A bedroom that should just belong to the child who lives with you, not also the other 2 that visit." Emily said. "Think of what will happen when both of the girls visit. 5 people crammed in that tiny house? It won't work."

"I understand where you're coming from, mom," Lorelai said. "But, of all the wedding gifts you could get us, a house is too much. It's too expensive."

"We wouldn't buy you a house that was out of our means," Emily said. "And I know you aren't the kind of person who likes to take too much from people, I'm sure Luke is even worse about that."

"What does that mean?" Lorelai asked.

"You and Luke are the most prided people I've ever met," Emily said.

"Have you ever looked in a mirror?" Lorelai asked.

"Pride, is one of our family's most common traits," Emily said. "Along with stubbornness." Lorelai looked away, she couldn't argue with that. "But we aren't giving you this house for no reason, it's a wedding gift."

"I understand that," Lorelai said. "But as you said, Luke and I have a lot of pride. When we need a bigger living space, we will find one ourselves. Not one my parents thought was right for us. But one Luke and I know is right."

"But…" Emily said.

"No buts," Lorelai said. She stood up and picked up Lucas. "I appreciate what you and Dad were doing. But please, leave this up to me." Lorelai reached into her purse, and pulled out a second 4x6 of her son. "Sorry, I didn't get this one framed."

And she headed out. Emily watched her leave, and then looked down at the picture. She thought it was great. She had Nancy go into the cellar and bring up and clean a frame for the photo. Then, she placed it on her writing desk, next to the photo similar to the one Richard had in his office.

*Shorter chapter than usual. Thought it might be a nice break from the usual over 1,000. Anyway, I'm glad the recent change I made in this story has made you all happier. I'm going to try to keep up with this new plan. But if I get a good conflict idea that I feel I can't miss out on, I'm going to jump on it. Fair warning. –DD *


	47. Chapter 47 Sweet

Chapter 47

After being excused from Friday night dinners for 6 weeks, Lorelai finally decided to go to one. As dramatic as her exit had been, she wasn't mad at her parents. How could she be? They were trying to offer her something. It was just a wedding gift, they weren't meddling in her life. Emily Post and Miss Manners would frown upon Emily using a wedding gift as a way of blackmailing her daughter.

Lorelai had Sookie watch L.J for the 3 hours she would be gone. When she was leaving Sookie's house, Lucas started to cry.

"I know hon," she said to her baby. "I don't want me to go either."

Lorelai got to the Gilmore Mansion before Rory. Rory had sent her a text saying she had a DAR meeting to go to, and she'd be late. Apparently, Rory was back to going to those. The text said that Emily would be at that meeting too. So Lorelai would either be let in by the maid, or sit with her father uncomfortably.

Richard was already home, but Nancy answered the door.

"Good evening, Ms. Gilmore," Maid Nancy said.

"Hey Nancy," Lorelai said. She was in a better mood than she'd been the last time. "Still working here eh? What did you do? Build my mother a shrine?"

"Ehrm…" Nancy paused, she didn't know how to respond to that.

"Don't sweat it Nanc," Lorelai said, giving the maid a nickname just for a giggle. Lorelai entered the living room, her father came in from his study a moment later.

"Your mother is at her…" Richard started to say.

"DAR meeting," Lorelai finished for him. "Know it."

"Oh," Richard said, he unbuttoned his jacket and sat down. "Where's Rory?"

"At the meeting," Lorelai said.

"Oh…" Richard groaned. He didn't like that Rory was still a part of that group. It was fine for Emily, but Rory was different. "Anyway," he changed the subject. "About the wedding gift, I sorr…"

"Don't worry about it," Lorelai told him.

"Will you let me finish a sentence?" Richard asked.

"Just, trying to get the awkwardness out of the way," Lorelai said.

"Well, if you did that," Richard said. "What on earth would we have to talk about while we wait?" He got Lorelai with that one, she smiled and chuckled.

"Where's Lucas tonight?" Richard asked.

"Paling around with Sookie," Lorelai said.

'You didn't want to bring him?" Richard asked.

"I just wanted to be around grownups tonight."

"Well, I can understand that," Richard said. "Speaking of Lucas, how is Luke?"

"He's good," Lorelai told him. "He is on a mathlete road trip with his daughter."

"When does he get back?"

"Beginning of April."

"A two week trip, that's a long time to be away from his diner," Richard commented.

"It's in capable hands," Lorelai said.

"Is everything good with you two?" Richard asked. Lorelai gave him a questioning look. "Not that it wouldn't be," Richard added.

"We are great," Lorelai said honestly. "The original wedding date is back and I'm getting to know April better."

"What do you mean back?" Richard asked. "Was it 'gone?'"

Whoops.

"Oh, yeah…we had it postponed for a period of time." Lorelai admitted.

"Because of what? The baby?" Richard asked.

"Well, that, and because Luke wanted more time to get to know April," Lorelai explained.

"What does getting to know his daughter have to do with his original wedding date?" Richard asked.

"It's a long story," Lorelai told him. "Just don't tell Mom, I don't want to have to explain the long version to her."

"Understood," Richard said. He knew full well what it was like with Emily when she wanted to know something.

"Hello, Hello?" Emily called out. She was home, as was Rory by the sound of the footprints.

"We're in here!" Richard called out. Emily and Rory entered. Emily had her usual tight lipped expression, Rory looked a little tired.

"How was the meeting?" Lorelai asked. She imagined her mother and daughter's stories would be different.

"Long," Rory said.

"Irritating," Emily said. "Constance Betterton."

"Oh what did the lovely Constance do now?" Richard asked. Rory stood behind Emily, waving at him in a 'No! Don't ask that!' kind of way.

"Far too ridiculous to talk about now," Emily said. Translation: I will bother you all with this at the table.

"Well, as exhausted as the two of you are," Lorelai said. "Now that we are all together, I have some things I want to discuss with you."

"Like what?" Emily said. Plopping down next to her husband, looking uninterested.

"Wedding plans," Lorelai told them. Emily immediately perked up.

"Oh!" Emily said. "Do tell." Lorelai knew anything having to do with making herself look more proper to her mothers friends, would cheer Emily up.

"Well, I'm waiting for Luke to get back before I make any final decisions," Lorelai told them. "But so far the plan is; A beach wedding in Martha's Vineyard, June 3rd."

"The beach before summer, that could be problematic weather wise," Emily said, in full mother-of-the-bride mode. "Would it have to be on the sand? We could do it on the lawn of our vacation home with heaters."

"Maybe," Lorelai said. She hadn't thought about that.

"How many guests?" Emily asked.

"Immediate family and our Stars Hollow friends," Lorelai responded.

"No extended family?" Emily questioned. "Don't you want them to see this?"

"I don't have contact with them," Lorelai said.

"I can fix that," Emily offered.

"Some of the elderly family members' last words to me were something about how I would be burning in hell for my sins," Lorelai told her mother. "I can't imagine they'd bring life to the party."

"Oh please," Emily said. "Aunt Bobbie died last year."

"Well, that changes everything," Lorelai said sarcastically.

"Fine, just immediate family," Emily conceded. "Just me, your father, and Rory."

"And," Lorelai reminded her mother. "Liz, T.J, Jess, April, Buddy, and Maisy."

"Jess?" Emily judged. "He's going to be there? Nephews are extended."

"He was practically a son to Luke," Lorelai said. "He's going."

"But," Emily argued. "You don't even like him."

"Doesn't matter," Lorelai told her mother. "Luke does."

"But…" her mother tried to argue further.

"No buts!" Lorelai said again from their previous talk. Emily finally gave in.

"Anything else you'd like to discuss?" Emily asked. "Food? Entertainment? Vows?"

"Well," Lorelai said. "I'm going to take care of all that, but there is something I'd like to ask you and Dad about."

"Alright," Emily said. "What is it?"

"Well, of course I want Rory, April, and Lucas in the ceremony," Lorelai said. "Traditionally, the mother is also in the ceremony."

"You want me to be?" Emily asked.

"Yes, I think it would be nice if you escorted Lucas as well."

"I could do that," Emily said, with a high smile on her face. This was her dream.

"And Dad," Lorelai said, looking at him. "I know we have never been that close, but…"

"Yes?" Richard asked.

"Would you give me away?" Lorelai asked.

Richard got a loving and adorable smile on his face, similar to his wife's.

"I'd love to," he told his daughter. The two of them had never had better eye contact and better bonding then they'd had at that moment.

"Dinner is ready, Mrs. Gilmore," Nancy said entering the room. The family got up and headed for the dining room. Nancy headed toward the kitchen.

"You know," Emily said to the family. "This maid isn't that bad, maybe I should just stick to hiring American maids."

"Yes," Lorelai said sarcastically. "That was the problem with the others." The family sat down to have a nice meal. One of the best meals they'd ever had. Lorelai hadn't originally planned to ask her parents to be in the wedding, but she didn't regret asking them. She knew this was their day as much as it was hers. Well maybe not as much, but almost.

*I just felt like being really sweet for this chapter. I don't know what has come over me, ha ha. Thank you for reading. –DD *


	48. Chapter 48 Tequila

Chapter 48

"No, she won't like it," Mrs. Kim said, more to herself that to Lorelai.

"Who won't?" Lorelai asked.

"You can't come alone," Momma Kim said about Lane's wedding. "An unmarried woman of a certain age unescorted, wearing the clothes you tend to wear, people will think things, bad things."

"Like what?" Lorelai asked. She felt Momma Kim was being silly.

"Like you're a tramp and possibly for sale," Mrs. Kim said. As if that was the only conclusion people could make.

"Wow, suddenly, "Footloose" not seeming so silly," Lorelai jokingly realized.

Mrs. Kim was thoroughly worried about this for some reason, but Lorelai was making a joke out of it.

"You have to find someone to bring you, you have to find a man," Mrs. Kim told her.

"In one day are you kidding me? My fiancé is out of town and the only other guy in my life is in diapers," Lorelai said. Who could she possibly bring?

"You can't bring a baby to a wedding," Mrs. Kim said seriously, not realizing Lorelai had no intention of bringing her son as a date. "He will be loud and disrupt the service."

"Oy," Lorelai said, brushing her hair back out of her face.

"My daughter wants you at her wedding, fine. But if you are to come, then you need to come with a man. And Kirk does not count!" It was done, Momma Kim had spoken. What was Lorelai going to do?

Lorelai ended up paying Michel to take her, only to get a call from him the day of, saying he couldn't take her. Rory through her daughter powers, managed to get Christopher to come be her mother's date. Christopher jumped at the chance. He liked being around Lorelai.

Lorelai had what felt like a gruelingly long wait outside the Kim house. A group of men 6 feet away from her were sizing her up. That was uncomfortable. She had tried a few times to make her engagement ring visible to them by brushing her hair back with her ringed hand or yawning into it. But it did nothing to help her.

One of them started to head toward her when Christopher showed up. Lorelai went the extra mile in her hello hug by holding Christopher's head to her lips with her ringed hand when she kissed his cheek. That made the horny wedding guest turn tail and run; he certainly noticed the ring that time.

"That was some kiss," Christopher whispered in Lorelai's ear. Lorelai avoided explaining why, distracting herself by pointing out to Mrs. Kim that she had brought a male date. "Did that really need clarification?" he asked.

Then, Lorelai explained to him why she'd needed a date. She hoped Chris knew that that was the reason for the kiss. But Christopher had of course, misinterpreted it. Whether it was because he was stupid or because he wanted to believe it was something else, was hard to say. He was just Christopher.

Everything seemed to be going fine; Lorelai had an acceptable date in the Korean's eyes. But, she wasn't sure if she was okay with her date. Christopher was making her feel slightly awkward.

Whenever they had eye contact, she saw something behind his eyes that was discomforting. He seemed to be too close to her a lot. After they ran to the church together and got their seats, Christopher held on to her longer. And when they got to the reception, he did something that made her even more worried.

"You're drinking alcohol?" Lorelai said astounded, when she saw Christopher bring a tray of shots to the table. "You said before that you stopped drinking after the debacle at my parent's second wedding."

"I'm not going to drink too much," Christopher claimed.

"Then what's with the tray?" Lorelai asked. It had 20 shot glasses.

"I just want to make sure we have enough," Christopher told her. "I think we need to take a shot every time someone wishes Lane and Zack good luck or toasts them."

"Okay then," Lorelai said. She hadn't been drinking lately because of the pregnancy, and now because she was still breastfeeding. She'd pumped some in anticipation of enjoying a drink at the wedding, but she hadn't planned to get drunk.

Whenever someone said, "To Lane and Zack," Lorelai and Christopher took a shot. Christopher ended up cheating a bit, and drinking in between. Lorelai stuck to following the rules of the game. She'd had 3 shots, whereas Christopher had 6. When Christopher seemed to be getting too beschwipst, Lorelai decided to take him back to her place. She found his car, and drove it for him.

Lorelai decided to give him some coffee, in the hopes that he would sober up somewhat. He seemed all right, but Lorelai had him sit at her kitchen table for a while, to get control of himself.

"The shots were a bad idea," Lorelai told him.

"I didn't think people would toast so much," Christopher said.

"They didn't, you cheated," Lorelai reminded him.

"Oh yeah…" Christopher said.

Christopher and Lorelai sat there for an hour. Lorelai got up every now and then to go check on Lucas, only to finally just bring the baby monitor down, because Christopher kept searching the house for more booze when she was out of the room.

After the hour was up, Christopher (who had thanks to Lorelai, not had any more alcohol) was ready to go. He knew he was still a little buzzed, but he had experience from his alcoholic days to drive almost perfectly.

"Well, I'm gonna head out…" Christopher said. Lorelai worried that letting him go would be a bad idea, but Luke would freak if Christopher stayed the night. And Lorelai had no idea what G.G's nanny would think.

"Drive safe," Lorelai told him. She let him hug her, even though she'd been feeling weird with him the whole day. And her mistrust of him turned out to be warranted. Because when Christopher took his head off Lorelai's shoulder, he looked into Lorelai's eyes meaningfully (yet Lorelai's eye contact screamed nervous), and kissed her.

He used a lot of strength to hold on to her, but Lorelai managed to get free from not only pushing him away, but by kicking his ankle. The jolt made him step back and lose his footing somewhat.

"Don't you dare do that again!" Lorelai yelled through her teeth. She was a little buzzed herself, so any tact or anger control she could have had was out the window.

"Lor…" Christopher whined. "I didn't mean to…."

"You're not that drunk, Christopher," Lorelai told him. "And you know better. After all that has happened in our lives, you certainly know better."

"But…." Christopher argued like an idiot. "It's us, Lor…"

"No!" Lorelai fought back, with far more right. "There is no us. See, this is why you of all people can't drink. It's more your enemy than anyone else I know."

"Lor…" Christopher said, putting his hands on her shoulders. He tried to get her to hug him.

"Get off!" Lorelai yelled. She pushed Christopher off of her with a force that made the table he backed into move with a harsh dragging sound. Lucas could hear it through the baby monitor. He started to cry. "Get out of here!" Lorelai told Christopher as he was getting up. "Now."

"Fine…." he mumbled, he wasn't fully cognizant of what was going on. He headed out the front door, and slammed it. He passed Rory on the way to his car.

"Dad…" she asked. He didn't look so good.

"Tell your mom…" Christopher yodeled. "I'll see her…some other time…"

Rory watched her dad go, she knew that he'd been drinking. On her way up the porch steps, she got a call on her cell phone. She answered it, assuming it was her dad calling from a block away, just to say he didn't think he could drive. But it wasn't her father. It was someone else.

Lorelai straightened up the kitchen and started to head for her bedroom to check on Lucas. But then Rory barged in, and blurted out,

"Logan's hurt!"

Rory looked terrified. Lorelai was torn between checking on her son, and consoling her daughter. Rory ended up making the choice for her. Rory said she was going to go to the hospital in New York. She headed out, and Lorelai was just standing next to the stairs in shock. Her ex had made a move on her, her daughter's boyfriend was in trouble, and she realized she'd never waited this long to respond to her son's cries.

She headed up the stairs; she knew Babette would come running if she thought the baby was unattended. Lorelai didn't need that right now. She was in big trouble. What was she going to do about Christopher? Ever since she and Luke had promised each other they wouldn't keep secrets from each other, she couldn't just forget about this. Lorelai was scared. She only hoped that once the alcohol was completely out of her system, she'd be able to think more clearly about this.


	49. Chapter 49 Guilt

Chapter 49

"So, you just let Christopher drive home tipsy?" Sookie asked Lorelai the next day. Lorelai told Sookie about where she and Christopher had gone off to during the party. But, she chose to leave out what Christopher had done to her. Sookie's kitchen staff were all a bunch of gossips. And, she knew Sookie would get stressed trying to keep a secret.

"He was okay," Lorelai told Sookie. "He called Rory this morning, and she told me he was fine." That was a lie. But Lorelai didn't want to seem like the bad guy here. Christopher had kissed her, when she had no desire for him to do so. He was the bad guy, not her.

Lorelai headed on her way to Luke's. She was very nervous. She didn't know how or when she would tell him. Even without their no secrets pact, if Christopher ever popped his head out of his foxhole, he'd be sure to try to make Luke find out the truth. And afterward, he would claim he "didn't mean to." Christopher was as predictable and repetitive as they could come.

"Thank god, someone sane," Luke said as Lorelai entered. She managed to cover up her nervous face with a 'welcome back,' greeting. She hugged him and gave him a peck on the lips. She would feel guiltier kissing him deeply, considering the last person to do that to her.

Lorelai managed to avoid the subject of Lane's wedding, by asking Luke how his trip had been. Luke managed to unknowingly give her another distraction by asking about Lucas.

"Where's L.J, you didn't bring him?"

"Oh," Lorelai said, glad for another distraction. "He's at your sister's, I'm sorry, I didn't think about it."

"That's okay," Luke said. "Next lull we get I'll stop by her place."

"Sounds good," Lorelai said.

"Actually," Luke said. "I might take a big break, and take you shopping."

"Really now…" Lorelai said. What brought this on?

"Well I figure you'd love some new clothes, you've lost almost all of the weight."

"Yeah I have," Lorelai said, glad her fiancé had noticed. "I just need to loose 6 more pounds and then I am golden."

"Better hurry," Luke said. "June 3rd is just around the corner."

Lorelai felt a stab of guilt. Telling him about Christopher could ruin their wedding plans. Luke was going to be so pissed.

"Its only April, honey," Lorelai told him. We've got time.

"Oh, speaking of April," Luke said. "Her birthday is coming up."

"It is?" Lorelai asked him. "I guess that explains her name."

"Yeah," Luke said. "So while we are out, I'm going to pick her up a birthday present."

"Sounds good," Lorelai said. "I'll get her something too."

"She'll love that," Luke said.

Luke also told Lorelai that he'd be hosting April's birthday party here. The idea of going to a 13 year old's birthday party made Lorelai even more stressed. Would she tell him what happened before or after? She ended up claiming she'd be too busy with work to attend the party. Luke didn't get annoyed or upset, he completely understood. But that only made Lorelai feel worse.

On the day of April's party, Lorelai planned to not go to the diner at all. She busied herself with work. She was so heavily into it, that it reminded Sookie and Michel of how Lorelai had acted when the Inn had first opened. Sookie was about to come talk to Lorelai in concern, when Lorelai received a call from Luke. The birthday party was a disaster. He called Lorelai, begging for help. Lorelai was terrified of facing Luke on a day he was supposed to enjoy, but she swallowed her fear and went to the diner.

Once she was there, the party developed into the hit Luke had hoped it would be. The girls' moods changed noticeably. Towards the end of the party, Luke and Lorelai told April she could have a sleepover if she'd like. Of course she said yes, and the girls were even more excited.

But then, Liz stopped by to drop off Lucas. Being so busy with April and her friends, Luke and Lorelai hadn't considered what they would do with Lucas for the night. It would be too loud upstairs for him, and sleeping in the supply room with Luke wouldn't be good either.

"This is a lot to ask," Lorelai said to Liz. "But could you keep him overnight?" Luke pulled Lorelai by the elbow to the staircase.

"You want Lucas staying with Liz and TJ overnight?" he asked her like she was crazy. "He's never slept over there before. He's never been away from us at night!"

"Liz takes care of him all day," Lorelai told him. "She can handle him at night."

"But it's TJ!" Luke said. But when his sister gave him a withering stare he tried to save face. "And it's a lot to ask of them," Luke said a little louder, hoping his sister would be less mad at that fact.

"Unless you want to stay upstairs with the girls while I go home with Lucas…" Lorelai suggested.

"No, you have to stay," Luke said. "April would want that."

"Then…"

"Liz," Luke said. "Can you keep him?"

"Sure thing big brother," Liz said, picking Lucas back up. "The Sister Sitter is on the job." Before Liz left, Luke had Lorelai and April take a picture with Lucas. He wanted a photo of his entire family (minus Rory, but he had a photo with Lorelai and Rory with Lucas already). After that, Liz and L.J headed out, and Luke and Lorelai both took big gulps. A whole night without their son. He was only 2 months old. They didn't know if he could handle it.

Lorelai got the girls situated upstairs while Luke made a bed in the supply room. Luke asked Lorelai to come say goodnight when the girls were distracted. Lorelai had usually been avoiding being alone with him. She had been dealing with guilt pain throughout the party. When she'd been distracted with the girls, she hadn't felt the pain as much. But whenever she looked at Luke, the pain came back.

"Hey," Luke said when Lorelai came down to the supply room. "I like what you've done with your hair." Luke wanted to flirt with Lorelai a bit; her new temporary look had been driving him wild all day.

"Thanks," Lorelai said. Luke took her in his arms, and kissed her. Lorelai tried to kiss back, but somehow kissing him hurt her. She couldn't keep it a secret any more.

"Something wrong?" Luke asked. Lorelai usually participated more in their kisses.

"Luke" she said, stepping back. "Christopher was my date to Lane's wedding."

"I know that," Luke said. "You told me on the phone early this morning.

"Yes, but…" Lorelai said. She felt like she was going to throw up. "He got a little drunk."

"Okay…" Luke said. "Did he do something stupid?" Luke figured that Christopher had given a drunken speech to Lorelai or something.

Lorelai took a deep breath and finally said it.

"He kissed me."

Luke's face got tight, red, and shut down.

"I didn't kiss him back, I didn't want him to do it," Lorelai told him. Luke looked away from her. "Luke, I'm sorry." She told him, starting to cry. "I'm so sorry…"

But then Luke stormed out of the supply room. Lorelai slowly followed him to see him leave the diner. She went to the window and saw Luke get in his truck and drive off.

Lorelai watched his car disappear into the distance. She then heard her name called in a chorus from the girls. She went up to see them going sugar crazy with junk food. They wanted her to play, "Light as a feather, stiff as a board" with them. Lorelai and the girls got in a circle around April on the floor. As they were putting their hands under her, April asked Lorelai a question.

"Where'd my dad drive off to?"

Lorelai didn't realize that April had seen him go.

"He went to get something from our house to take to Lucas," she told her. She didn't think Luke would mind the lie. He wouldn't want his daughter to know there were any problems. Lorelai had no idea where Luke had gone. She thought he might have gone on a drive to clear his head.

But in reality, Luke was on his way to Christopher's house. He had seen the address in Lorelai's book before; he was pretty good at remembering those sorts of things. He got to Christopher's apartment building, and got into the elevator. He stormed to Chris's apartment door and knocked very hard.

A Spanish woman answered the door. Luke asked for Christopher. The woman called for Mr. Hayden, and Chris came to the door, shocked to see Luke. Chris stepped into the doorway.

"What are you…" Christopher started to ask before…BAM! Luke punched him in the face. Christopher spun around and lost his footing somewhat. The woman screamed and Luke could hear a little girl's voice asking what happened. But Luke didn't stay long enough to tell Chris to stay away or to issue a threat. He just went on his way and got back to his truck. When he got back to the diner, most of the girls were already asleep in front of a movie. Lorelai was sitting up in Jess's old bed, with her arms crossed. Luke came in quietly and saw her. He turned to see the girls, some of which were still awake. Luke gave Lorelai another glance, and then headed back downstairs to the supply room.

April had opened her eyes when her dad was leaving the room. She knew he'd just gotten back. She wasn't sure why it had taken him so long. She looked at Lorelai, who looked sad. April wasn't sure what had happened, but she knew it wasn't good.

*I know I've probably freaked some of you out, but I promise this trouble only temporary. Don't worry. –DD *


	50. Chapter 50 Conflict

Chapter 50

Luke didn't hear from Lorelai the next day. Luke knew Lorelai was avoiding him, probably because she was scared. The last time Lorelai had confronted Luke soon after an experience this bad, he'd broken up with her. And according to Liz, Lorelai had picked Lucas up that morning, and taken him somewhere. Luke tried to call Lorelai's cell phone, but she didn't pick up.

Luke ended up going to see Lorelai at dinnertime. Lorelai was in the kitchen when he arrived, eating Chinese. When Luke entered, she stopped. They looked at each other for a moment, and then Lorelai spoke.

"L.J is upstairs," she said. She looked down. She was assuming Luke was there because he wanted to see his son. Luke instead chose to sit down, but he couldn't look at her. He knew Lorelai felt bad about what happened, and he believed her when she'd said she hadn't wanted the kiss. But, he was still fuming about what had happened the night before, and that afternoon, when Anna had come to the diner in a rage, because she found out Luke had left the girls alone with Lorelai.

"I'm not ready to talk yet," Luke told her. "I'm facing some problems with Anna right now, because I skipped out on the party last night."

Lorelai looked up at him, feeling guilty.

"Anna doesn't want me and April in contact. I'm trying to give them space right now," Luke told her.

"I'm sorry, Luke," Lorelai said. It was her fault that he had run out. She had caused some of this problem.

"I don't want to talk about it," Luke said. He stood up, and then spoke again. "I'm going to go visit with L.J, and then I'm going back to the diner."

"You want space," Lorelai said, more a statement than a question.

"Don't worry," Luke told her, giving her one last look. "I won't take 40 years." And then he went upstairs.

Lorelai tried to eat more, but she couldn't. The pain made it too hard. Luke sat in the rocking chair, holding his son. When his son got out of his groggy state, and was able to look at his father, Luke started talking to his son.

"Listen buddy," he said. "I won't be here tonight, I won't be gone too long, but your mother and I need some space." He knew his son was only 2 months old, but he felt that he needed to say this out loud. "Try not to be too much of a hassle, your mom isn't feeling all that great." Luke knew that Lorelai just needed to be forgiven, and then some of her pain would be gone. But Luke knew he wasn't the type who could rush into things. He knew that he was too much of a brooder for his own good, but they were getting married in less than 2 months. He needed time to get over this, so he wouldn't feel like he was getting married when he wasn't ready. He wasn't postponing it again.

Luke left 10 minutes later. Lorelai had steered clear of the upstairs, to give him some space. When he left she was still in the kitchen, in a daze. She came out of it when she heard the front door close.

Lorelai woke up the next morning to the phone ringing.

"Hello?" she said groggily. She groaned when she heard her mother's cheery voice on the other end.

"Lorelai?" Emily said. "I'm just calling to let you know that I am having laser eye surgery today."

"Bully for you," Lorelai said. She really wasn't interested in talking to her mother at that moment.

"I am very excited about it," Emily said. Too caught up in her self to realize her daughter's sarcasm. "I was just calling to let you know that I am canceling Friday night dinner this week, so I have time to recover."

"Okay," Lorelai said. "Thanks for telling me, at 7 in the morning."

"I'm going into surgery in 5 hours Lorelai," Emily scolded. "This time was convenient for me."

"I figured that out," Lorelai said. Convenient for her mother was always inconvenient for her.

"I just thought I'd let you know," Emily said. Trying to cut the call, because she knew her daughter was about to hang up. Emily needed the dignity of being able to call the shots.

"Got it," Lorelai said. And then she hung up, to her mother's chagrin.

The next day while Lorelai was at work, she got another call from her mother. But this time, her mother was far from cheery. Apparently the surgery had gone bad, and her mother was temporarily blind. Emily needed Lorelai's help, help that apparently Lorelai was supposed to be warned about by her father. Lorelai didn't want to leave work, but a combination of guilt from her mother, and pleading from her father, made her go.

Lorelai worked as Emily's driver and aide all day. It was grueling and humiliating. But Lorelai couldn't abandon her mother. During the drive to one of the errands, Emily started to talk about Christopher. Lorelai's least favorite topic at the moment.

Emily praised how wonderful Christopher had been when they'd had Lunch on Sunday. Lorelai didn't want to talk about Christopher, but she at least knew Christopher was okay. Or almost okay, Emily told her something about Christopher that made her jaw drop.

"He looked very nice in his suit," Emily told Lorelai. "His short hair cut looked decent to. I didn't care for the bruise on his face…"

"Wait what?" Lorelai asked. "What do you mean bruise?"

"What?" Emily asked. "Oh, he almost got mugged, Saturday night when he was walking his dog."

"Mugged?" Lorelai asked.

"Yes," Emily said. "The thief didn't succeed though, someone came to Christopher's aide, but not before the scoundrel assaulted Christopher."

Lorelai tried to focus on the road, but she was gripping the wheel. Christopher didn't have a dog. But on Saturday night, there had been someone who'd wanted to hurt him: Luke. That's why Luke had been gone so long.

"Anyway, I think Christopher is lonely," Emily said. "I think I'm going to try to fix him up."

"Leave him be, mom," Lorelai said, trying to end the conversation. "Let him find someone." Lorelai knew, that of all people to meddle in Christopher's love life, Emily would make the situation worse. Plus, Lorelai knew full well that Christopher wasn't interested in anyone else. Emily continued to ramble on about what women she knew who would be great for Chris. But Lorelai just chose to ignore her; she sang 80's songs in her head, to distract herself.

At the end of the long day, Emily's demanding errands managed to get them to Beacon Falls. A Beacon Falls real estate office.

"Mom," Lorelai said through gritted teeth when she realized where they were. "I told you…"

"Don't get mad at me Lorelai," Emily begged. "Please, just look at what they are offering."

"I told you that I didn't want a house from you!" Lorelai barked.

"The deal is different this time," Emily told her. "Trust me."

Emily started to get out of the car, and Lorelai had no choice but to follow. It was pitch black out. Her mother was likely to fall into a manhole.

Lorelai followed her mother into the office, extremely peeved. She listened with her arms folded, as her mother shared pleasantries with the real estate agent. She followed them to a booth, full of blown up photos. They were photos of a house's exteriors and interiors. Lorelai listened quietly to the agent, as she talked about how supposedly amazing the house was. But Lorelai had already planned her reaction. As soon as the real estate was gone, Lorelai responded to her mother's questions noncommittally.

"Lorelai, listen," Emily said, after her daughter had refused to look at the photos closer. "I know you think that Luke won't accept a gift this big from us. But, what if I told you, that the money to buy this house, was yours."

"What are you talking about?" Lorelai asked rudely.

"You know how your grandmother had set up a trust fund for Rory?" Emily asked.

"Yes?" Lorelai asked.

"Well," Emily said, taking a deep breath. "She set one up for you as well."

"Oh did she now?" Lorelai asked sarcastically. "I'm 38 years old, shouldn't I have received it, oh let's say, nearly 15 years ago?" Lorelai didn't believe her mother. Most people get these when they are 25. Lorelai certainly hadn't received it then.

"It's not that kind of fund," Emily said.

"Why did she never mention this, 'fund,' to me?" Lorelai asked.

"Because she didn't think you'd ever get to use it," Emily told her.

"Yeah, she was right," Lorelai said sarcastically. "Never in my entire adult life, have I ever needed a large sum of money. Yeah, I've never had loans, or construction work, or tuition to pay for. Right…."

"It wasn't a general fund!" Emily yelled, annoyed. She wanted Lorelai to stop giving her attitude. "It was a fund you would receive when you got married."

"Excuse me?" Lorelai asked. But she understood full well now. She knew why her grandmother thought she'd never use it. Gran had always been under the impression based on her granddaughter's behavior, that she would never get married.

"Don't you see, Lorelai?" Emily said. "We might have chosen this house, but we could use money that is technically yours, to buy it with."

"What would be the point of that?" Lorelai asked.

"Well," Emily said, realizing that this might not be much of an improvement of her wedding gift plan. "If it was your own money, would Luke be against getting the house?"

"I told you," Lorelai said. "When Luke and I want a new house, we will find it ourselves."

"All right," Emily said, finally giving in. "I understand. But, could you just look at the photos anyway? Maybe you and Luke could have this house as a prospect in your search."

To make her mother happy, Lorelai decided to look at the house. She hadn't really looked at the photos when her nose had been up in the air. And when she finally gave the photos a decent look, her heart flipped. The house was amazing, beautiful. Lorelai looked at the photos, the real estate agent's voice was in her head, repeating what she'd said in the presentation. Emily started to share with Lorelai what had attracted her to this house. The size, the land, the pond, the stables. Despite how little Emily always seemed to understand her daughter. This house, screamed Lorelai. It screamed Luke too, except for the light purple exterior. He might find that too frilly.

Lorelai listened to her mother talk about how perfect the house was, and she silently agreed with all of it. But there was a reality that was biting at her. She and Luke were having serious problems at the moment. Luke claimed he would get over it, but Lorelai still feared that there was little hope. She and Luke had had some good times over this past year, but they'd also had a lot of struggles. She knew that she and Luke still had a chance. But, she was still scared, nervous, and heart broken. Emily brought up that she knew Luke didn't like extravagant things, but before she could explain that it would all work out, Lorelai broke down.

"It's not going to happen," Lorelai said. She wasn't being defiant like she was before, she was being honest.

"What?" Emily asked. "Of course it will. If we have to pay more than the asking price, your father and I are totally prepared…"

"Luke and I," Lorelai interrupted. "The wedding, it's not going to happen."

"What?" Emily said, shocked. She had taken a completely different tone. Her daughter wasn't talking about affording the house; she was taking about her engagement.

Lorelai knew that Luke hadn't given up on her yet, but she was far too hurt and emotional to mention the technicalities. Lorelai felt her mother come up behind her, and put her hand on her shoulder. Lorelai and her mother weren't particularly close, but Lorelai knew her mother would listen if she needed to talk. Emily used her hand on Lorelai's shoulder, to usher her calmly out of the building.

*Patience everyone. I promised my story wouldn't have L/L screw up like they did on the show. But you know me, conflict is my favorite ammunition. –DD *


	51. Chapter 51 Talking and Talking

Chapter 51

"What do you mean it won't happen?" Emily asked when they got into the car.

"We've hit a wall, that's all." Lorelai told her mother, then rolling her eyes at the rhyme.

"What do you mean?" Emily asked. "Everything seemed fine."

"The wedding used to be postponed," Lorelai told her mother.

"What!" Emily said. "Why? And why didn't I know?"

"Gee, I don't know mom," Lorelai said sarcastically, fighting back tears. "Maybe because I knew you'd act like this?" Emily backtracked to calm down.

"Why was it postponed?" Emily asked politely.

"Because Luke didn't think he could handle getting married so soon when he had a daughter he had to get to know."

"What? That's completely ridiculous!" Emily commented.

"That's pretty much been the consensus of anyone who's not Luke," Lorelai said.

"But, you said the wedding is June 3rd," Emily said. "Did it used to be earlier?"

"No, June 3rd was the date we planned. We ended up quitting on that one for a brief period of time, and then bringing it back."

"And now you think it won't happen at all?" Emily asked. "Why?"

"Because of Christopher!" Lorelai yelled. She'd been holding this in all day.

"What does he have to do with any of this?" Emily asked. "Did he try to get between you? Because I had nothing to do with that."

"Sometimes Chris acts alone," Lorelai reminded her mother.

"What did he do to get between you?" Emily asked.

"Nothing," Lorelai said. She didn't want to tell her mother.

"If I'm to help you," Emily told her daughter. "I'm going to need to know."

Lorelai paused, and then she bit the bullet and told her mother.

"He kissed me at Lane's wedding."

"Why was he at Lane's wedding?" Emily asked.

"He was my date," Lorelai explained. Emily raised her eyebrow at Lorelai. "What?" Lorelai asked.

"You brought the man who previously tried to break you and Luke up, as a date?"

"Yes…" Lorelai said. She wasn't sure what her mother was getting at. But then she figured it out. "You're blaming me?"

"Well obviously, Lorelai!" Emily fought back. "What were you thinking bringing him? You didn't think he'd take it the wrong way?"

"He was doing it as a favor to me!" Lorelai exclaimed. "I needed a date so people didn't think I was a hooker!" Emily did a double take.

"How would bringing a man who wasn't your fiancé to a wedding make you look good?" Emily asked.

"It's a Korean thing," Lorelai said.

"What?"

"Never mind!"

The women sat in silence for a while. And then Emily went into helpful mother mode.

"What needs to be done to fix this?"

"Luke said he just needs some time to think," Lorelai informed her mother. "I know him. If I rush him into getting over it, he'll run away."

"How much time does he need?" Emily asked.

"Hard to say. As long as I don't bother him, he will be more comfortable."

"What are you doing about Lucas? Is Luke still staying at your house?"

"He's spending time alone at his apartment," Lorelai told her mother. "He visits with Lucas when he's at Liz's house."

"Should someone talk to him?" Emily asked. Lorelai gave her a 'are you nuts' look. "Maybe if it was someone other than you…"

"Bringing someone else into this would make it worse."

"But you're talking to me…"

"Stay out of it."

"But…"

"Don't make me say it!"

"Say what?

"No Bu…"

"Oh, I should have seen that one coming," Emily rolled her eyes.

After her long day, Lorelai finally got home. She broke out of her exhausted trance to realize she hadn't picked Lucas up yet. She started to head back out the door, when she heard her son squeal upstairs. She went to her room to find L.J and Luke in the rocking chair. Lorelai paused in the doorway.

"I'm ready to talk," Luke said.

With the promise that Christopher would not be at their wedding, and that Lorelai would only talk to him about Rory, Luke was able to move past what had happened. He most certainly did not like Christopher in the slightest, but he knew that for the most part, Lorelai did have the ability to cut Christopher out of her life. But run-ins were bound to happen every now and then.

Now that Luke was home again, and they'd moved past what happened, Luke and Lorelai got thoroughly into wedding plans. Luke liked what Lorelai had put together. And he even was willing to let Sookie come into the planning mix. On the Friday night that Lorelai had off from Friday night dinner, Luke made a very special meal for her at the house, and they had sex for the first time since they had their son. It was a very nice night.

The next week went by quickly. Lorelai hadn't realized where the time had gone, until she got a message on her machine saying that Friday night dinners were back on schedule. Lorelai hadn't talked to her mother since their talk in the car.

When Lorelai got to her parents house, her mother answered the door. Her mother was concerned. She talked to her daughter in hushed tones, asking about Luke. Lorelai told her everything was fine, but Emily was still uncertain if she believed her.

Lorelai walked into the living room to see Rory pacing on the phone. Once the family was all sitting down together, they saw the model that was supposed to be the Yale building in Rory's name. Lorelai was able to laugh at her daughter's expense, and mock her. But her smile was soon gone, when she got a shocking surprise of her own.

"Excuse me everyone," said the maid. "Christopher Hayden has arrived."

Lorelai turned in terror to see Christopher walk in. They shared a quick glance. Christopher was smiling awkwardly; Lorelai's mouth was gaping open. She turned to give her mother a, 'I can't believe you!' look. Her mother's face was very guilty. To avoid her daughter's look of betrayal, she looked away. Whatever her mother thought she was doing, Lorelai hoped she had a good reason.

*Did they make up too fast? I think a 3 and a half-day separation was pretty decent. –DD *


	52. Chapter 52 The Break Up

Chapter 52

"Sorry to cut our visit short, dad," Rory said soon after her father arrived. "But I have graduation plans with Logan."

"Catch up with you later," Chris said. He was trying to read his daughter's face, to see if she knew what happened between him and Lorelai. But Rory wasn't giving away anything.

"We'll walk you out," Lorelai said. She gestured with her hand for her mother to follow her. The women walked all the way outside with Rory. Once Rory was out of the driveway, Lorelai turned on her mother.

"What. Are. You. Doing?" Lorelai asked her mother, emphasizing each word so her mother couldn't possibly misinterpret.

"Lorelai, I know this seems questionable," Emily said.

"Ya think?" Lorelai said sarcastically.

"I have a plan to get Christopher to leave you alone."

"By doing what?" Lorelai asked. "Oh god, you're not going to sit him down to 'talk' are you? I told you to stay out of this!"

"I'm not doing that," Emily told her daughter. "I'm planning to set him up with someone tonight."

"Setting him up? Wha…oh god mom! Leave him be!"

"If he meets a new woman maybe he will form an interest in her!"

"Well super for you that you think that," Lorelai said. "But couldn't you have done this when I wasn't here?"

"This was convenient," Emily explained.

"Is that your favorite C word now?"

"Just leave it to me, Lorelai. He won't be bothering you much longer."

"I highly doubt that," Lorelai mumbled. And a few seconds later, another car pulled up on the driveway. The woman was skinny with blonde curls. She was cute, but Lorelai knew Chris wasn't the kind of guy to go for a set up. This would be interesting.

"Oh my god!" Lorelai said startled. Christopher had followed her into the bathroom. "What are you doing?"

"What do you mean, 'what am I doing?'" Christopher asked like it was obvious. "I thought 'restroom' was code for, 'follow me and we'll talk about how to get you out of this.'"

"What the hell kind of spy school did you go to?" Lorelai asked. "And why would I want to talk to you? If it weren't for my mom's uncontrollable need to match make, I wouldn't be standing with you right now."

"Come on, Lor," he said. "Can we just forget about that?"

"Considering my engagement was almost broken up? No, I don't think we can."

"You're fine now, right?"

"Yeah now, but only if you stay the hell away from me."

"Oh come on! I can be friends with you without making a move on you!" Christopher argued.

"Yes, in the past 21 years you've proven that," Lorelai said sarcastically.

"Why don't we just focus on the matter at hand," Christopher said, using his hands to gesture moving on. "Let's talk about…how to get me out of this!"

"Out of what?" Lorelai asked. Lorelai felt she had a right to have a little fun playing with Christopher's feelings for a bit.

"Are you going to help me or what?" Christopher asked.

"Uh…no." Lorelai said, definitely.

"What? Come on!"

"No!" she said with conviction. "You will be the polite gentlemen that I know you have the ability to be for at least 2 hours out of everyday. You will be nice to this woman."

"But I don't even like her!"

"She's a very smart woman, I think she'll figure it out," Lorelai said. "Just because you are being nice to her, doesn't mean you have to date her. I mean, what are you? In high school?"

Christopher groaned. He gave in, without another plead. And then Lorelai kicked him out of the bathroom so she could use it. During dinner, Lorelai watched as Christopher begrudgingly made polite small talk with Lynnie. Lorelai considered jumping in to deflect, but she felt it wasn't her job. Christopher needed to know what it felt like to have someone hanging on him that he didn't like. Lynnie could obviously tell Christopher wasn't interested. So she tried her best to just talk to Emily and Richard.

Lynnie and Christopher left separately. Lorelai was on her way out, being ranted at by her mother about how Christopher had ruined his, 'chance.' When Lorelai got outside, she saw that Lynnie was still there, talking on her phone. But Christopher was nowhere to be seen.

Lorelai got on the road and began to head back to Stars Hollow. Halfway back, she got a call on her cell phone, from Christopher. He was probably calling to rant to her about how the night had gone. Her telling him to stay the hell away from her in the bathroom had held no sway. He didn't know about the new rule Lorelai and Luke had made.

"God, Lor, it was so awful!" Christopher said through the receiver.

"I know, I was there," Lorelai said. She wanted to get off the phone.

"Hey, want to meet for a drink?" Christopher asked. "I could really use one."

"Alcohol is the last thing I want to see you drinking," Lorelai told him.

"I don't want to get drunk…" he started to say.

"Doesn't matter," Lorelai told him.

"Are you ever going to forgive me?" he asked her. Lorelai pulled over into a parking lot.

"Chris," she said. "I don't want you in my life."

"What?" he asked. He couldn't believe she was saying this.

"Luke would feel more comfortable if you and I only talked about Rory, and didn't visit with each other."

"You're letting your fiancé tell you how to live your life?"

"In all honesty," Lorelai said. "I don't mind distancing myself from you."

"Why?" he asked.

"You bring me unnecessary drama, Christopher," Lorelai explained. "I know we've been friends for a long time, but I'm done with you and your immaturity."

"If I stopped drinking, could things go back to the way they were?" he asked.

"You've done plenty of terrible things while sober, Christopher. You just have a little more control of yourself when you're sober."

"Please Lor," he begged. "I can't lose my best friend." Lorelai paused, even though she hadn't forgiven him yet, she felt bad doing this to him.

"It's high time you got a new best friend."

"No…" he begged more. "Please don't!'

"Goodbye, Christopher," she said as straight as she could. And she hung up. As she was getting back on the road, her phone vibrated. She peaked and saw his number. She pushed the end button. She waited to here the alert saying she had a new message on her machine, but it didn't come. Christopher probably was too afraid to leave a message. She knew that he would need time to get over this.

When Lorelai got home, Luke was watching a game on TV. He turned to see her, and frowned when he saw the look on her face.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Mom invited Christopher to dinner," she told him.

"What!" he said outraged. He jumped up.

"Relax," Lorelai said. "I talked to him. He won't be bothering me any more."

"You're sure about that?" Luke asked.

"Christopher is like Mondays." Lorelai said. "He always comes back around eventually. But, for now, he will leave me alone."

"There's no way to make him permanently stay away?" Luke asked.

"Not unless you want to kill him," Lorelai told him

"Oh, I want to," Luke said. "But I won't."

"Good," Lorelai said, chuckling awkwardly. "Rory might have a problem with that."

Luke took Lorelai's hand, and they sat down on the couch. Luke flipped channels until he found something Lorelai wanted to watch. Lorelai cuddled up to Luke, and they sat in silence. They were both watching the movie, but Lorelai only heard one thing. It was repeating over and over in her head.

"It's high time you got a new best friend."

"No…please don't!"

*You thought I meant Luke and Lorelai were breaking up? No. I wouldn't do that to you all. I just thought I'd scare you. -DD *


	53. Chapter 53 Okay

Chapter 53

Lorelai looked across the lawn at her wedding guests. She couldn't believe she'd finally done it. She'd gotten married. Nothing could bring her down. Until she saw her daughter bound around the house, running towards her in tears, holding her cell phone.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Lorelai said, holding her daughter by her shoulders, trying to get her to calm down.

"Mom!" Rory cried. "Dad killed himself!"

Lorelai jolted awake.

It was the first day of May. Her wedding was still a month away. It had been a dream. She turned to see her son lying in the bed between her and Luke. The only thing she'd be celebrating soon, was her son's 3 month old birthday. But her dream haunted her. Had she left Christopher in bad shape?

Christopher had never been a suicidal person, as far as Lorelai knew. But she knew that what she'd said to him the previous night had destroyed him. And she couldn't go talk to him obviously, that would defeat the whole point of her telling him to leave her alone. She could have Rory check on him, but she knew that Rory was busy seeing Logan off today. She wouldn't be in the mood.

Lorelai and Luke sat silently at the breakfast table. Lorelai was busy thinking about Christopher, and Luke was pondering what to do about his daughter. He and Anna had exchanged calls, but he hadn't gotten to see his daughter. Anna wasn't ready to forgive him. Their phone calls consisted of the same fight over and over again. Anna didn't think Luke could be there enough for April. But Luke would prove her wrong.

"If Anna doesn't let me see April soon," Luke told Lorelai, breaking her out of her train of thought. "I'm going to sue for custody."

"Oh, Luke," Lorelai said, she was in full caring fiancée mode. "You want to go to those extremes?" 

"Not really," Luke replied. "But she's giving me no choice."

"How much longer are you going to give her?" Lorelai asked him about Anna.

"I'm going to stop by their house today," Luke said. "I'm going to see if I can see April under Anna's supervision. Maybe once Anna sees how good I am with April, she will change her mind about letting me have visitation again."

"That might work," Lorelai said. But she wasn't sure how much she believed that. Anna didn't seem like someone who easily changed.

"We're getting married in a month," Luke said, taking Lorelai's hand. "My daughter needs to be there for that."

"I understand," Lorelai said. She remembered the nightmare she'd had last night. She had pre-wedding concerns of her own. She needed to find a way to see if Christopher was okay.

When Lorelai was at work, she got a visit from Rory. Rory had seen Logan off that morning, and she wasn't feeling great.

"Yay, so you're back!" Lorelai said to her daughter. She put on a happy face for Rory. Looking at Rory made her feel a little guilty. Rory was the spitting image of her father.

"Yeah," Rory said. "I just had to get out of there."

"Aw," Lorelai said in understanding. "How was the goodbye?"

"Awful," Rory replied. "There's nothing good about a goodbye, it's a poorly named ritual." Lorelai understood that all too well.

"What's going on with you?" Rory asked her mother after she got done venting.

"Things with me? Things with me are good," Lorelai tried to say with a smile.

"Convincing," Rory commented.

"Things with me friends are good, things with me Inn are good, things with me not so good."

"What's up?" Rory asked.

"Look," Lorelai told her. "I don't want to talk about this right now. But I want to tell you. I have to tell you. Because it affects you."

"What is it?"

"I broke up with your father last night," Lorelai said.

"Um, 'broke up?"' Rory asked. She questioned her mother's choice of words.

"I ended our friendship," Lorelai explained.

"Why?" Rory asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," Lorelai told her daughter.

"But you said it affected me," Rory argued. "So, I have to know."

Lorelai gave in, and directed Rory to her office. As soon as they were safely inside, Lorelai told her daughter what happened.

"He kissed you at Lane's wedding?" Rory asked. "What made him do it?"

"Alcohol mixed with what he felt was a tender moment," Lorelai explained.

"Were you sending him vibes?" Rory asked.

"No," Lorelai said annoyed. She really didn't like being blamed for this. "He misinterpreted things."

"Which means you were giving him an idea of something," Rory told her mother.

"Don't blame me for this!" Lorelai said. "I didn't want him to do it, I didn't invite him to do it!"

"I believe you, mom," Rory said. "But you have to tell me what else happened. Was your friendship over when Dad came to dinner last night?"

"It happened after dinner," Lorelai told her daughter. "But I had already decided we were done beforehand."

"Does Luke know?"

"Yes," Lorelai said. "That's another reason why this affects you. Luke and I agreed that I would cut your dad out of my life, and only talk to him when it comes to you."

"Okay?" Rory said. She wasn't sure how this would work. "Do I not mention you around Dad or something?" 

"I guess," Lorelai said. She wasn't sure either. "But, I need a favor from you. I hate to ask it, but it's going to drive me nuts."

"What?" Rory asked.

"Check on your father," Lorelai said. "Sometime. Soon."

"You want me to be a spy for you?" Rory asked.

"I wouldn't phrase it like that…" Lorelai started to say, but then she saw the questioning look on her daughter's face. "Well, maybe it is."

"What do you want me to do?" Rory asked.

"Make sure he's okay," Lorelai said. "I ended our friendship on the phone, I wasn't able to see his face. I'm afraid he's in bad shape."

"Okay…" Rory said again. She wasn't comfortable doing this. "I will chat with him sometime soon," Rory told her mother. "But, once I'm sure he's okay, I'm not going to be your snitch."

"Understandable," Lorelai said.

"I know he caused you serious trouble, but you hurt him too. I'm not taking sides on this. I'm Switzerland."

"Okay," Lorelai said. "I'm not expecting you to always be on my side."

"It's not that I'm not mad that he almost broke you and Luke up," Rory made sure her mother knew. "But while he might have tried to pull you and Luke apart, Luke actually succeeded in pulling you and Dad apart."

"I understand," Lorelai said. She looked down, she felt even guiltier. "When are you going to talk to your dad?" 

"I'm supposed to have lunch with him soon," Rory said. "To make up for missing dinner last night." She was having trouble looking at her mother. "I will get back to you when I know more."

"Are you leaving?" Lorelai asked.

"I'm going to try to get that lunch scheduled for today," Rory said. "Dad doesn't work on Saturdays."

"Shouldn't you give him more time to calm down?"

"It's up to me, mom," Rory told her mother. "I'm calling the shots."

"Okay," Lorelai said for what seemed the umpteenth time. But what else could she say?

All the way in Woodbridge, Luke was at Anna's door, talking to her about April. Even face to face, Anna was still refusing to change. Luke asked her to let him spend a few minutes with April. But Anna refused. April ended up coming out of her room, and begged her mother to let her just go on a walk with her dad. But Anna then flat out refused. April started to cry, and called her mother a bad mom. Anna was most clearly hurt by this, but it didn't weaken her resolve. She turned to Luke and said,

"You can't spend time with her, and that's final. No more arguing."

Then Luke threw in an ultimatum.

"If you don't let me, I will sue for it."

"Sue for custody?"

"Yes."

"You won't win," Anna said.

"We'll see about that," Luke told her, and then he walked away.

When she got into her car, Rory called her Dad.

"Hello?" Christopher said. His tone seemed like he was hiding something.

"Dad?" Rory asked. "Do you have some free time? Lunch?"

"Sure kiddo," he said. He sounded really vulnerable, but he was trying to sound cheerful. "I'll meet you in New Haven around 3. Rich Man's Shoe?"

"Sounds good," Rory said, feeling guilty. And then she hung up. She would ask him if he was okay, and talk to him about how he felt. But she wasn't sure if she was going to tell her mom. Both her parents did terrible things. She wasn't forgiving either of them completely.


	54. Chapter 54 Diner Watch

Chapter 54

Luke looked up a lawyer firm in the phone book in his truck. On his drive back to Stars Hollow, he called them. He got a meeting with one of the partners. It was scheduled for 3 o'clock.

Luke went back to the diner, and got one of his nice suits. He chose not to wear a tie with it. When he looked out his window when he was getting ready to leave, he saw a large crowd. They were spectators for Taylor's new insanity plea: A camera for the traffic light.

Luke went downstairs to watch the spectacle from behind the counter. While Taylor was putting on a show for the people, Rory drove down the street.

"Oh don't mind us, Ms. Gilmore," Taylor said. "You aren't interrupting us making history or anything." Rory waved at him awkwardly, and kept going. She heard Taylor's car speeding behind her. She made sure to speed herself. She had already turned the corner and was going down the next street when she heard a terrifying noise.

Rory looked in her side mirror and saw it. On the corner where Luke's Diner was, had it's front wall demolished, and a car was inside. Rory got out of her car and ran to the diner. She saw Kirk waving to the crowd mimicking Evel Knievel. She saw Luke stand up from behind the counter, where he had taken cover.

Luke was outraged. Taylor tried to claim he could be held blameless. Rory tried to get a word in to ask Luke if he wanted her to call her mother. She finally broke through when Luke abandoned the problem with his diner.

"I have some place to be," Luke said to Taylor and the tow guy. Luke needed to get to his meeting with the lawyer. And Rory needed to get to the lunch with her father.

"Do you want me to call mom?" she finally asked Luke

"Yeah," Luke said, grumpy. "Let her worry about this, I have to go."

Rory watched Luke storm off to his truck. She then went back to her own car, called her mother, and then drove to New Haven.

Christopher was already waiting at a table in the restaurant. Rory went right to him and sat down.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"Oh, just a problem back at home," Rory told him. She didn't think it wise to tell him it was Luke related. "How are you?"

"Uh, good," Christopher lied.

"Really Dad," Rory said. "How are you?"

"What do you mean?" Christopher asked. He was trying to blow it off.

"Mom told me what happened."

Christopher's face fell.

"Are you okay?" Rory asked him.

"As good as can be expected," Christopher told her.

"If it makes you feel any better, I think you and mom will get passed this," Rory told her father.

"Maybe we will," Christopher said. "But I don't know about Luke."

"Luke has never been able to know you in a good way," Rory told him. "He's only been around you when there has been trouble going down."

"So what are you saying," Christopher asked. "I need to save a puppy in front of him or something?"

"I'm saying…" Rory tried to explain. What was she saying? "That only time will tell."

"I don't know about that," Christopher said. "But thanks."

"You're welcome," Rory said. And then they changed the subject to something easier, and enjoyed their lunch together.

After Luke's meeting with the lawyer, he went back to his diner. He found Lorelai and Liz standing (or rather sitting) guard. They were sitting on the bar stools that hadn't been destroyed. They had the baby monitor between them, and they were drinking lemonade.

"L.J upstairs?" Luke asked.

"Yep," Lorelai said. "Liz felt like keeping me company."

"And some cute kid brought us lemonade, isn't that sweet?" Liz asked.

"Oh yeah, real sweet," Luke said sarcastically. "I can take it from here if you want."

"I don't know," Lorelai said. "We are sort of having fun. All the shade with the breeze blowing in, it's like a sun porch."

"But without the sun," Liz threw in.

"I think that goes without saying, sis," Luke said.

"Well, I think I'll go then," Liz said. She knew her brother was in a fowl mood, and she wasn't going to stick around for it. "You want me to take mini Luke?"

"No, we'll keep him," Lorelai said. Liz left through the door; never mind that there was an entire wall space she could jump out of. Luke took Liz's seat, and drank some of Lorelai's lemonade.

"I got a lawyer," he told her.

"Anna wouldn't budge?" Lorelai asked.

"No," Luke said. "And now she'll wish she had."

"When's the trial?" Lorelai asked.

"My guy is going to call me when it gets set up."

"Okay."

Lorelai and Luke sat there for the rest of the afternoon. Lorelai got up to check on Lucas every once and a while. She went to go get a pizza once they got hungry. Once it was dark out, it got too cold to sit outside. Lorelai decided to go hang out in the apartment with the baby. Luke elected to stay with his diner. He wasn't taking any risks.

Lorelai ended up taking the truck to go pick Paul Anka up, and bring him back to Luke's. She decided that she and her two little boys were going to spend the night in the apartment, so Luke wouldn't be entirely alone. Luke stayed in the diner all night. He had the phone with him, waiting for his lawyer to call.

The lawyer ended up calling at 9 in the morning. They had a trial set up for Tuesday at 1 pm. Anna had been informed, and she already had a lawyer. She'd called one of her lawyer friends right after Luke had left her house. Luke needed to get a character reference according to his lawyer. He knew the perfect person to ask.

Luke took a break from diner watch and went upstairs to see his family. Lorelai was feeding Lucas a bottle when Luke got there. Luke sat down next to Lorelai and watched his son eat.

"I need someone who knows me really well, to write a character reference for the court trial. "

"Are you asking me?" Lorelai asked.

"I couldn't imagine anyone else being more perfect," Luke told him.

"Hhhmmm…" Lorelai said. "How long do I have to do this?"

"…Tuesday?" he told her.

"Yikes," Lorelai said, taking Lucas over to his basinet. "I better get cracking."


	55. Chapter 55 Acceptance

Chapter 55

Lorelai took another day off to work. She'd missed most of the previous day guarding the diner. Now she was going to work on the character reference. She had some trouble at first. Despite how well she knew Luke, she couldn't think how to phrase how well she knew him. Luke was busy and stressed with getting his diner back in order, and strategizing with his lawyer. She didn't want to worry him with the fact that she had writer's block.

"I stare at the blank page, and I just keep starring, and starring." Lorelai ranted to Rory over the phone. "And eventually I have to get up and lubricate my eyeballs otherwise they would fall out of my head like raisins." Rory chuckled at that. Her mother was generally amusing in her rants.

"Well are you using a pen?" Rory asked. "You can't just stare at the paper. You need a writing implement of some kind."

"I have a writing implement," Lorelai said. "The problem is that everything I say sounds so schmucky!"

"I'm sure that's not true," Rory tried to assure her mother.

Lorelai went on to spout her previous ideas for her letter. Each one was followed by a sound of disgust. She even amused Rory with some random gibberish caused by her brain being a wild jungle of it.

Luke ended up coming home when Lorelai was on the phone spouting off the gibberish. When he asked her what she was doing, she jumped and claimed she was in a contest with Rory to see how much funny improv she could muster in one minute.

She hung up the phone, and decided to go upstairs to her typewriter. She thought that it would somehow inspire her. Luke came up to see Lucas, and saw Lorelai hard at work.

"Can I see what you've got so far?" Luke asked, craning his neck towards her.

"No!" she blurted out in panic, putting the typewriter cover back on.

"Come on, just a peak."

"You can't. I can't have any critiquing or help from you." Lorelai reminded him. "It has to all come from me."

"Okay," Luke gave in. "How's it coming?" 

"Great," Lorelai lied. She was sitting very still, starring at her covered typewriter. She was about to have a panic attack from all the stress.

"I'm gonna take a walk," Luke told her. "To give you space." Luke started to head out, but Lucas started crying. Lorelai whipped her head around and said,

"Take him with you."

Lorelai needed a break from everyone, if she was going to write this thing.

After slaving away for 5 hours, with many rough drafts crumpled on the floor, Lorelai was finally done. She'd finally written a letter that hadn't made her want to vomit or slap herself. She typed it up on her laptop as well, so she'd have an extra copy. Luke and the baby were still out; so Lorelai took a walk of her own, to go mail it to Luke's lawyer. But not before emailing Rory a copy.

On Monday night, Rory had plans with her father again. Christopher met her at her apartment that time. When he got there, she was still getting ready. She told him to go ahead and use her computer to find a movie for them to go see. Christopher woke her laptop out of slumber mode, and found Rory's email open. It was an email from Lorelai. But it didn't say, "Dear Rory." It said, "To whom it may concern."

In this email, Lorelai was writing about Luke. It made Christopher sick to read it, but he couldn't help it. In this letter, Lorelai said nothing but good things about her fiancé. The end of the letter mentioned something about Luke's kid. Christopher wasn't sure what the point of that was, but he wasn't thinking about it much. It was the main part of the letter that hit him where it hurt.

In the letter, Lorelai talked about how much Luke was there for her. How much he was there for Rory. She had broad cited examples of what Luke had done over the years. This letter was about how Luke, had been all the things Christopher had wished he was, but had never been. This letter showed how perfect Luke was for Lorelai. Something Christopher had not understood, until now.

Rory came up behind him, and saw what he was doing. Christopher saw his daughter's face reflected in a photo frame next to her desk. He flipped around to see her.

"Sorry, I…" he started to babble.

"It's okay," Rory told him. She was holding a newspaper in her hands. "I found the listings in here. How's 'An American Haunting,' sound?"

"Perfect," Christopher said. He would go for anything at that point. As they were leaving, Christopher had a change of heart. He understood now why he and Lorelai could never be. It wasn't going to stop him from loving her; it wasn't going to help him get over this. But he understood now. It would be easier to just leave her alone. But, he hoped one day Lorelai would forgive him. And that Luke would let them be friends. He could only hope.


	56. Chapter 56 Angel Behavior

Chapter 56

Luke sat in the hearing room at the courthouse. He was told by his lawyer to remain silent, and to let him do all the talking. He watched as Anna's shark lawyer made his lawyer look like chum. Anna's lawyer was vicious, taking pot shots whenever she could. The judge many times told Anna's lawyer she was out of line, but the woman did what she could to make Luke seem terrible. Luke managed to be saved by two things: The judge's distaste for the shark, and Lorelai's character reference.

Lorelai hadn't allowed Luke to read it before she sent it in. So everything the judge read aloud, was news to him. He sat there in full loving admiration of his fiancée. Her letter was perfect. He could see why she'd spent so much time on it. The letter proved that Lorelai had no residual hostility towards him about keeping April a secret. Her letter almost made the judge cry. Lorelai wanted Luke to have his daughter as much as he did.

Luke came home after a long day at the courthouse, exhausted, yet had no ability to sleep. He was too nervous about the judge's ruling. He came home to see Lorelai watching TV with Paul Anka.

"How was it?" she asked.

"My opinion of lawyers hasn't changed," Luke told her.

"Your lawyer was a shark?"

"No, Anna's was."

"Where'd she get hers? Your ex-wife's firm?"

"That woman would have been perfect for them," Luke agreed.

"How soon will you find out the ruling?" Lorelai asked.

"Tomorrow," Luke told her. "After the judge goes over everything she witnessed today."

"Did she seem favorable?" Lorelai asked. That made Luke smile.

"She loved your letter."

"Did she read it aloud?" Lorelai asked after a pause.

"Yep," Luke said. "My lawyer got a gloating look on his face, the shark lawyer nearly swallowed her tongue, and I think that resolve Anna claimed to have melted a little."

"Well…that's good," Lorelai said. Luke hadn't shared his reaction yet.

"I thought it was amazing," Luke finally told her. "I'm glad I didn't read it beforehand, it meant so much more to be hearing it for the first time along with everyone else."

"I hope it was enough," Lorelai told him.

"It certainly helped," Luke assured her. "A lot."

Lorelai woke up the next morning late; to the sounds of Luke's rejoice. He was bounding around the room, doing an uncharacteristic victory dance. She saw Luke pick Lucas out of his crib and lift him up into the air. Lucas looked freaked out, not used to being so high off the ground, but once Luke brought him back down to his usual holding position, the baby giggled.

"Your favorite baseball team win the World Series or something?" Lorelai asked, still groggy despite her fiancé's bewildering behavior.

"I got shared custody!" Luke exclaimed. Lorelai shook herself out her left over exhaustion and squealed with delight. She got out of bed and ran to her fiancé. He picked her up in a hug and spun her around the room.

"That's so great!" she told him.

"Yeah," Luke agreed. "I get her every other weekend, one afternoon and evening a week, every other major holiday, and half of the summer. Anna and I are going to work it all out."

"They gave you half the summer when you live near your daughter?" Lorelai asked.

"Well, Anna and I will figure out how to organize that without it being too weird or confusing," Luke said. They couple had sat back down on the bed. "April's school is year round, so we'll have to work with her random vacations."

"Have you called April yet?"

"You woke up right after I hung up with my lawyer," Luke told her.

"Should you call?" Lorelai asked.

"Probably, but I'll wait till after April is home from school," Luke told her. "Anna and I need to organize the visitation so that April is with me for the wedding."

"Will working with Anna be awkward since you won?" Lorelai asked.

"Well, knowing Anna she will not be glad that she lost," Luke said. "But I saw her when the letter was being read aloud. She wasn't as against me having visitation when she heard it."

"Okay then," Lorelai said. She remembered seeing her friends dealing with shared custody of their children. Despite the requirement by law, it was confusing and hard to keep up with.

Now that the court trial stress was out of the way, Lorelai moved onto something more fun: her bachelorette party.

She planned to have hers that Saturday. She told Luke he should have his that same night. Luke wasn't as keen on a bachelor party as she was.

"I'm not into strippers and people popping out of cakes," he told her.

"Not all bachelor parties are like that," Lorelai laughed.

"What would we possibly do?" Luke asked.

"Bar hop?" Lorelai suggested. "Go to someone's house and drink beer, smoke cigars, watch a game?" Luke raised his eyebrow at her.

"You have the most generalized idea of what men do for fun."

"Hey," Lorelai said. "At least they are suggestions." Luke laughed. He loved their little spats.

Luke decided to give in to Lorelai's 'ideas.' He and a small group of men would rent the Black, White and Red Movie Theater and watch a game on the big screen. They'd have beer, and Luke would bring food from his diner.

Lorelai's plans were mellower than her last bachelorette party. She didn't need a blow out party this time, she wasn't saying goodbye to her freedom like she'd been with Max. With Luke, she was saying hello to the biggest adventure of her life. Equal to her children of course. She was going to have her girls hang out at her house, much like the improvised party she'd had for her mother a few years back.

Luke's guest list were people he'd invited to be nice: Jackson, T.J, Jess, Ed, Cesar, Buddy, and Richard. He didn't plan to do anything wild or inappropriate at his party, so he didn't flinch too much at the thought of his future father-in-law being there. Lorelai's guest list would be: Rory, Lane, Sookie, Liz, Gypsy, Lulu, Babette, Miss Patty, Michel (because he'd been at her last one, and despite his gender, she thought it would be funny if he was there), and her mother. She would have preferred to leave her mother out of it. But when she found out Luke had invited her father, she knew she'd never hear the end of it from her mother if she was left out.

Because they had no idea when their parties would end, Luke decided he would stay at his apartment that night. Maisy had chosen not to go to Lorelai's party because she couldn't drink because of some meds she had to take. So she offered to watch Lucas overnight, so his parents could enjoy themselves. Lorelai and Luke were a little more comfortable having L.J stay at someone else's house overnight. But they didn't plan to make a habit out of it. They had already decided their son would be joining them on their honeymoon.

Luke and Lorelai were getting ready for their parties in their bedroom, thinking about what they'd be doing that night. Lorelai was excited. Luke wasn't all that interested.

"You going to behave tonight?" Luke asked his fiancée.

"Please," Lorelai said. "I will be the angel you know me to be."

"I do know you," Luke said. "So again, will you behave?"

Lorelai pretended to be insulted by his insinuation.

"Don't say that so fast," she told him. "You could be a bad boy tonight, you never know."

"I doubt it," Luke said. He went back to picking out a shirt, red flannel or blue? Lorelai chose her shoes, comfy sneakers, or sexy boots? Lorelai hadn't planned as much of her party as Luke had. Lorelai had left it up to the girls. Luke had planned his, to avoid the guy's plan: a strip club.

Lorelai and Luke had a fair well kiss, before Luke headed to the theater. Lorelai watched him leave, and saw some of her friends arriving. Rory was already there, sitting on the couch. Sookie and Liz came first. Followed by Lulu, Miss Patty, Gypsy, and Lane. Michel and Emily came at the same time, both looking like they felt out of place.

"Where's Babette?" Lorelai asked. It was odd that she wasn't there yet; she was Lorelai's next door neighbor. Miss Patty and Sookie gave each other mischievous looks.

"She's coming," Miss Patty said. Sookie looked like she was suppressing a giggle. "Come sit on the couch," Miss Patty told Lorelai. "In the center."

"Why?" Lorelai asked. She was giving the women questioning looks. They had a secret. She heard the front door bang open and Babette came in wearing a feather boa.

"Get out your money, girls!" She screamed.

"Wait a minute…" Lorelai said realizing what was going on. A sexy Chippendale strutted in. Babette unveiled a small boom box she'd hit behind her back and hit play. Lorelai fell down onto the couch with one hand on her mouth and one over her heart, laughing like crazy. The other girls cheered and the stripper danced over to the bride and gave her a show that she'd never forget. Luke might have said no to strippers, but Lorelai hadn't.

*More bachelorette/bachelor party scenes heading your way, in the next chapter. Keep reading, it should get funnier. –DD *


	57. Chapter 57 Surprise

Chapter 57

"Is this your first cigar, Luke?" Richard asked when Luke managed to have his first puff with ease, no embarrassing emasculating coughing.

"I had my first one at 16," Luke told him. "But I didn't care for them, so I never smoked one again."

"You look like a pro," T.J said. He'd gotten very show off-y with his cigar. But it only made him look like an idiot.

"Would you like one, Jess?" Jackson asked, passing him to box. Jackson didn't much care for them.

"No," Jess said in a monosyllabic tone he'd inherited from his uncle.

"Really?" Luke asked, deciding to continue with his cigar despite his distaste for it, no pun intended. "I remember on many occasions throwing your cigarettes out the window."

"I don't smoke anymore," Jess told them.

"Kicked the habit eh?" Richard asked, being a hypocrite by taking another puff. "Good for you." Then Richard coughed. He received a raised eyebrow from Jess, and then they moved on.

"What game are we watching?" Ed asked. He only enjoyed his favorite teams.

"Yankees, relax," Luke said. Ed was always nervous and annoying. Luke put in a VHS tape. "I taped the game from the other night." The men sat down to enjoy their game. Richard sat next to Luke; he thought they could have a little chat.

"Nervous at all, Luke?" Richard asked.

"Naw, the Red Sox will win," Luke said, he thought Richard was referring to the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry. He glanced at his soon to be father-in-law and saw Richard was giving him a look. He was asking about his daughter. "I'm nervous like anyone would be," Luke told Richard. "But I've been waiting for this for years."

"I thought you too have only been together 2 years," Richard asked. "Did you know the moment you got together that you wanted to marry her?"

"Lorelai enjoys telling people this," Luke said, letting Richard in on a well-known secret. "Before we dated, I'd been pining for her for 8 years."

"That's nearly a decade of unrequited love," Richard chuckled.

"Well I have her now," Luke told him. "It's worth it."

Richard could see the love this man had for Lorelai. He didn't have a doubt in the world.

"It's amazing that Lorelai's finally tying the knot," Jackson said in the row in front of them.

"What's that mean?" Luke asked.

"Well," Jackson said, turning around in his seat, and looking at Luke like he was a champ. "Many have tried, many have failed."

"Yeah, but I won," Luke said.

"We should pour a cooler of Gatorade over your head," Jess joked.

"Lorelai's a great gal," Buddy commented. "Luke deserves her." Luke winked to his adoptive father.

"If winning my daughter over is so hard," Richard asked Luke. "How did you succeed?"

"I understand her," Luke said.

"Could you be a little more vague?" Jackson asked.

"Lorelai," Luke explained like he had a Ph.D in the subject, and he practically did. "…Often doesn't say what she means. You either have to get it out of her with a lot of work, or listen closer. She sometimes won't tell you how she's feeling. You have to pay special attention to how she words it, her tone, and her eyes. She gives away a lot in her eyes. She's passive, she doesn't like letting people know that things are bothering her. But if I'm ever to succeed with her, I need to know how she feels. And with a little coaxing and understanding, she lets me in."

"I never noticed Lorelai's eyes that way," Richard said in realization.

"Living with women, you tend to get them," T.J said unimpressed, only looking away from the game to scratch his crotch. Luke knew full well that T.J didn't understand women that well. But he wasn't going to say anything.

Jess ended up getting buzzed by his phone. He looked at a text, and then gave Jackson a nod. Luke felt uneasy, did they have a surprise for him?

"Luke," Jackson asked smiling. "You like some Beatles songs right?"

"I guess…" Luke said. And then, music from some boom box he couldn't see came on. He heard some woman behind him sing the first line of, "It won't be long," by The Beatles. Followed by an already recorded chorus of yeahs. Luke turned around expecting to see some stripper. But it was Lorelai, singing into a microphone.

She was wearing a knee length, white dress with a poufy skirt and straps. She had her hair pinned at the top, with her long hair following down her back, crimped. She looked silly, but Luke was still in awe. He'd never heard her sing before, not like this anyway.

The guys got Luke out of his chair, and sat him in another one facing Lorelai. She danced around, singing. She at one point sat on his lap. She got up to bounce around more, and she ended her song by slowly descending onto his lap. When she finished the last word, she gave him a melting kiss, to people's cheers. She pulled back, and finally spoke.

"Your mouth," she said. "Tastes awful."

"Now she knows how I feel," Emily said. Elbowing her husband where they had been watching in the corner. The girls had filed into the room while Lorelai was singing. Rory was watching near the staircase. Someone's foot nudged her ankle. She turned around to see Jess.

"Long time no see," Jess said.

"Uh, yeah, it has," Rory said. The last time she'd seen Jess, she had visited him at his open house in Philadelphia. They'd shared a kiss that day, and Rory hadn't spoken to him since.

"You still with that guy?" Jess asked.

"Yep," Rory said.

"He's coming to the wedding?"

"No," Rory said. "He's away."

"Doing what?"

"Working in London."

"Goody," Jess said. "I wasn't looking forward to seeing him."

"Be nice," Rory told him. He mimed an angel halo over his head. Rory smiled at him, and then looked over at her mother. Lorelai was still sitting on Luke's lap. The two parties had meshed. "They look really happy," Rory said.

"Yeah," Jess agreed. "As long as they don't screw it up again."

"You're always the Negative Ned," Rory commented.

"I'm realistic," Jess claimed.

"You have no faith in them?" Rory asked.

"I have plenty," Jess told her. "But is it crazy that I worry?" Rory turned to him, shocked.

"You? Worried?"

"I'm not as an insensitive prick as I was when I was a teen," Jess said. Rory knew well what he'd been like. But she also knew he had a sweet side to him. After about 10 more minutes, Sookie enforced that the parties separate again. The group had a good laugh watching Lorelai refuse to heave her fiancé's side. They got her to go with them, and then they headed out. The guys finally sat back down to actually focus on the game. But the girls did something wild. They went to the tattoo parlor.


	58. Chapter 58 Surprise Part 2

Chapter 58

"Lorelai!" Emily scolded. "You can't be serious!"

"I'm not serious," Lorelai said truthfully to her mother. Lorelai and her group were standing in the only tattoo parlor in town. Lorelai had just got changed out of her dress in the bathroom. "I'm not getting one."

"Oh, why not!" Liz said in disappointment. "They're awesome! You need to get one!"

"Uh, no I don't." Lorelai disagreed.

"You used to want to get one," Rory reminded her.

"I was never going to have Mel Brooks face painted on my butt," Lorelai said, annoyed, even though back then she had considered it. Not Mel per say, but a tattoo.

"You can get one and tribute it to Luke," Liz said. "Or your kids. Oh hell even the inn. I bet you could get a dragonfly tattoo."

"I don't need to," Lorelai said. "I'm a grown woman, and I don't need to permanently scar my body."

"Girls, obviously my daughter is not interested," Emily said. She gave the parlor the once over, and grimaced. "Now, lets get out of here."

"Hey," the tattoo artist spoke up. "Is it a yes or a no? I'm closing up soon."

"Come on Lorelai, consider it," Liz begged. "My brother has tattoos, I don't see how you getting one would be so wrong."

"Luke has tattoos?" Emily said shocked.

"Just two," Lorelai quickly told her mother. "And one of them is small."

"And his tattoos don't really mean anything," Liz said.

"I think they do mean something," Lorelai disagreed.

"What?" Liz asked.

"Give me a minute, it will come to me," Lorelai said.

"Wow, you know him well," Emily said sarcastically.

"Is it yes or no ladies?" the tattooist asked in annoyance.

Lorelai looked at her friends, back at the tattoo artist, and gave herself another chance to think about it.

The next morning, Luke woke up at his apartment. He wasn't the slightest bit hung-over; he had chosen not to drink as much as the other guys. He drove out to Maisy's house to pick up L.J. He drove back carefully, he worried about his son riding in his truck, its model didn't exactly comply well with the car seat.

When Luke got back into the house, he knew he had to be quiet. He could see some of Lorelai's party guests still there. Some were sleeping slumped over each other on the couch and chairs. Babette was on the floor, halfway in the foyer. Luke carefully walked around them. He headed upstairs.

Luke could hear someone in the shower, but he didn't know for sure if it was Lorelai, because there were other people in the house. Luke put the baby into his crib, and went to investigate. He tentatively entered the bathroom.

"Hello?" he called out.

"Hi!" his fiancée called from the shower. Luke sighed with relief.

"Some of your pals are still here," Luke commented.

"Yeah," Lorelai said. "I let them spend the night, too drunk."

"How drunk were you?" Luke asked.

"Not nearly as plastered as they were," Lorelai responded.

Luke saw her hand reach for the liquid antibacterial soap near the curtain. What did she need that in the shower for?

"Something I should be worried about?" Luke asked, pulling the curtain open slowly. Lorelai had her hands to her lower back and was washing it with extreme care, when she felt the cool air hit her, and she saw Luke, she jumped. She put her back to the shower wall, and looked nervous. "Uh…" Luke said confused. Since when was Lorelai awkward about him seeing her naked?

"Hey," Lorelai said nervously. "I lost the other 6 pounds."

"Lorelai," Luke said, in full seriousness. "Turn around?"

Lorelai cautiously did as he asked. When she had her back to him, Luke saw it. A tattoo.

"Are you serious?" Luke asked.

* Tell me in the reviews what you think the tattoo will be. I gave hints!–DD *


	59. Chapter 59 Acceptance part 2

Chapter 59

Lorelai Gilmore had "Luke Danes Sr." tattooed across her lower back, peaking out from behind the top band of her jeans. Luke had gotten a good look at it in the shower, but Lorelai had chosen to get dressed before she and Luke talked about it. She'd felt very vulnerable. The tattoo wasn't major. The font wasn't large. It was around 14 point in black italics.

"You just, had a strong desire to write my name on your skin?" Luke asked. "You couldn't just write, "I heart Luke" on your hand like other teenagers?"

"Liz said I should tribute my tattoo to someone or something I care about," Lorelai told him. "The plan was to write both of our names and our wedding date, but by the time your first name was written I didn't think I could handle sitting through too much more. It hurt."

"Yeah, I'm aware," Luke said.

"Are you mad?" Lorelai asked.

"No," Luke replied. "But was it necessary? You said you didn't like how it felt. Isn't wearing a ring and taking my last name enough to brand you as mine?"

"Well, I wasn't sure if I was going to take your last…" Lorelai stopped when she saw Luke surprised. "I might want to keep my last name," she argued. "This is the 21st century, women have more rights."

"You said you were going to take my name," Luke said. "So you'd have the same last name as the baby and I."

"Well, I've got time to think about it." Lorelai said.

"A week and a half," Luke reminded her.

"Yeah…" Lorelai said, realizing how much more she had to think about. "You aren't mad right?"

"No," Luke told her. "I'm touched, really. I'm just surprised that's all."

"Alright then," Lorelai said.

For the remaining time she had, Lorelai and Sookie were working full steam ahead to complete wedding plans. Luke was working on getting Cesar ready to have a long stint taking care of the diner. Luke and Lorelai's honeymoon was going to be for a whole month. He had already rented a beach house for them. They were using Emily and Richard's vacation house for the ceremony, because of the lawn. But Luke had wanted their honeymoon vacation to be all their own, not connected to the family.

On June 1st, Rory got a call from her dad to have dinner with him. She took him up on it, but worried about one thing: she was currently staying at her mother's house, helping her get ready for the wedding. Her Dad wanted to have dinner with her in Hartford, because he was there visiting his mother. His plan was to pick Rory up. Rory had said yes to this without even thinking. Luke was very clear when he said he didn't want her parents near each other.

Rory stood at the window, watching for her father. Her plan was to meet him at his car. That way he wouldn't come in, and Luke wouldn't see him. But Lorelai ended up needing help with something, and distracted Rory.

The doorbell rang, and out of reflex, Lorelai jumped up to get it.

"No mom! I'll get it!" Rory yelled. But it was too late, Lorelai opened the door to see Christopher. She freaked out.

"What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" She asked him terrified.

"Uh," he said awkwardly. "I'm picking up…"

"I'm here!" Rory ran into the foyer. "Let's go." She gave her mother a sorry look, and she took off. Lorelai watched them go, feeling really uneasy. This was the worst time to feel like that. She was getting married in two days.

That same night, Luke and Lorelai went out to dinner. They were celebrating their last night together before they were married. Luke was going to go to work the next day, and not come back that night. Lorelai was going to steer clear of the diner, so that they'd fulfill the 24-hour rule.

Luke ended up in a spat with Taylor about rent and building changes when they stopped by the soda shoppe for dessert. Lorelai chose to walk home, because she knew those two would be at it a while. When she got home, Rory and Christopher were in the kitchen, divvying up leftovers.

"Is that key lime pie on the floor?" Lorelai asked, in her way of making things less awkward.

"Is that a corsage on your arm?" Christopher asked back, continuing their banter. To make the night more special, Luke had gotten his soon to be wife, a corsage. But he wasn't very good at picking them out.

"Oh this? Yes, subtle, isn't it?"

"If by subtle, you mean weird and giant, yeah, super subtle."

Rory awkwardly left to take the dog on a walk. She was also going to be on the look out for Luke getting back. She didn't want them to have a fight. Not now.

When Rory left, Lorelai and Christopher had an awkward silence. Lorelai offered him coffee, but he said he was about to leave. But before he left, he had one final thing to say to her.

"I'm okay."

"'Okay'?" Lorelai asked.

"I'm okay with how our lives ended up," he told her.

"You are?"

"Yeah," he said. "I'm not going to lie, I hate that we can't be close like we used to be, and I don't like that Luke hates me. But, I can accept that you are meant to be with him."

"Oh," Lorelai said. "Thanks."

"I mean every word of it."

"Good,"

They had another moment of silence, and then Christopher said goodbye.

"Goodbye, Mrs. Danes."

"Goodbye, Mr. Hayden," Lorelai responded as formally as he did. But her new name had more resonance than his life long name had. Lorelai held out her hand, and Christopher shook it. But Lorelai, ended up choosing to pull him into a hug. She knew he wouldn't misinterpret it this time. She whispered one last thing in his ear. "Thank you for letting me go."

Christopher left, and was met halfway to his car by Rory. She and Paul Anka walked Chris to his car, and she gave him a hug goodbye. Luke drove up at that moment to see Rory and Chris saying goodbye. It didn't bother him, it looked like the two of them were just saying goodbye. He didn't know that Lorelai and Christopher had talked. And he didn't need to know. Lorelai and Chris's talk was just meant to stay between the two of them. It was theirs, and theirs alone.

The next day, Lorelai worked to make sure the Inn would be in tiptop shape while she was gone. Michel and Christie would be working together to keep up Lorelai's duties. Sookie would be taking charge at part owner. That night she went to bed, with just one Luke in the room, her son.

The next morning she woke up calmly. But soon she remembered what was in store for her.

"I'm getting married today," she said aloud.

* The wedding is coming! You ready? –DD *


	60. Chapter 60 Countdown part 2

Chapter 60

Rory and Lorelai headed for Martha's Vineyard at 8 in the morning. Lorelai let Rory drive. Lorelai was far too nervous. Lucas was in the backseat, officially 4 months old. He could sit up on his own, and that gave him more awareness of what was around him. The girls could see his toothless smiles in the mirror. "At least he's not afraid," Lorelai thought. The girls got to the Gilmore's vacation home at 11:30. The ceremony was at 2:00.

Luke had left for the vineyard 2 hours before his fiancée. Jess had spent the night at Luke's apartment; he was Luke's best man. He was making sure Luke didn't go crazy. He didn't enjoy being woken up by his uncle at 6 am, but he knew that because of what day it was, it was slightly more okay.

Emily and Richard had left for the vineyard the day before. Lorelai had let them be in charge of getting the house, lawn, and even beach in order. Lorelai had put her years of function coordinating to good use, and made a planner. Emily was very good at following it. She enjoyed being able to do this. She was finally fulfilling her lifelong dream: her daughter's wedding.

"God I'm nervous!" Lorelai said in her parent's master bedroom at the vacation house. She was in comfortable clothes, having her hair and makeup done.

"You'll be great," Sookie assured her. Lorelai had elected to have only a few people with her in her final single moments: Rory, Sookie, L.J, and of course the makeup team. Lorelai had given in and let her mother hire them.

"You can do this, mom," Rory said. Lorelai's hairdresser gave her enough wiggle room to look at her daughter. Rory had just put on her maid of honor dress. Lorelai hadn't kept true to her 'promise' about the tangerine ruffles. Lorelai had decided to let her bridesmaids wear what they want as long as it looked nice. Emily hadn't liked that, but it was how Lorelai wanted it: untraditional. Rory had on a knee length wide strapped baby blue dress with tiny white polka dot print. She had on a white short-sleeved wrap cardigan over it. She had her hair styled down and curly. Her bangs were slide swooping, with some of the hair pinned at her temples.

"You look great hun," Lorelai said, almost getting teary eyed.

"And you are going to look even better," Rory told her mother. Lorelai turned back to the mirror, and saw how terrified she looked. She looked over at her son sitting in a high chair. Rory had dressed him up in short baby blue knickerbockers with suspenders. His shirt was short sleeved with it a tuxedo shirtfront. He had a cute little clip on bowtie, also baby blue. Lorelai liked that both of her children were wearing baby blue. Until her mom had caught on, and made her dress that color. That had annoyed Lorelai a little.

Luke was getting ready in a trailer Richard had set up for him. They didn't want to risk Luke and Lorelai running into each other in the house. Luke was in his suit, twiddling his thumbs and flipping a small photo of Lorelai in his hands. Jess was using the full-length mirror to adjust his too tight tie. He planned to take the tie off as soon as the ceremony was over.

"Stop playing with that thing," Luke told his nephew.

"Sorry," Jess said. "I've never been a fan of ties."

"Keep it," April said, entering the trailer. "It makes you look like a jazz saxophonist." Since she'd gotten to choose her dress, it was purple. It was an ankle-length lilac dress with thin straps and darker purple ruffled edging at the bust and ankle. She had on a thin long-sleeved cardigan. Lorelai had given Anna full veto power on April's dress, and she'd used it.

"Exactly what I was going for," Jess said sarcastically, futzing with his cuffs. April went over to her dad and resting her hands on his slumped shoulders.

"Ready, dad?" his daughter asked.

"Been ready for a long time," he replied. "But now that the day is here, I don't know what to do with myself."

"If its cold feet, you better make a run for it now," Jess told Luke. "The father-in-law is heading right towards us." Jess could see Richard out the window. They all heard Richard knock, and Jess opened the door.

"Hello," Richard said to the groom and his family. "Luke, may I speak to you?" Luke followed Richard outside, but not before seeing his nephew make a throat cutting gesture. While Richard was talking to Luke, Emily was heading up to the bedroom to see her daughter.

When Emily got there, Sookie, Rory, and the makeup team were standing outside the door.

"What's going on?" Emily asked.

"Mom wanted some alone time," Rory told her grandmother. "We are giving her some space." Emily took a place next to Rory and waited with them. Emily lasted about 5 minutes before she finally gave up.

"Lorelai?" she called out, pushing the door open. She saw her daughter on floor in her robe, looking like she was having a panic attack. Instead of having the others come in to help her, Emily just slammed the door behind her. She ran to her daughter and helped her up. Being a scared bride was Emily's area of expertise. She'd been one once, and she knew how to help her daughter.


	61. Chapter 61 Here comes the bride

Chapter 61

"Lorelai, sit down," Emily ordered her daughter. Emily got Lorelai on the makeup chair. She bent over placing her hand on her daughter's back and one on her daughter's farthest shoulder. "Breathe."

Lorelai did as her mother asked, but she was shaky. After a few attempts, she was finally able to breath normally. Her mother pulled up a leg rest from an armchair, and sat down in front of her daughter.

"Now what is it?" Emily asked. "Nervousness? Pre-wedding jitters? Cold feet?"

"Not cold feet," Lorelai told her mother. "Definitely not. It's jitters, and nervousness, what's the difference?"

"It's perfectly normal to feel that way," Emily said. "I did."

"I know," Lorelai said. "You told me at my first bachelorette party. It's what made me runaway from Max."

"What?" Emily asked. This was news to her. "You skipped out on your first wedding because of something I said? I'm to blame?"

"No," Lorelai assured her mother. "I'm to blame, I didn't love him, Max. You just merely helped me realize that."

"I see," Emily said. "Does that story make you doubt Luke?"

"No," Lorelai replied. "I didn't feel like this with Max, I didn't love him. It's different this time, it means something else."

"Yes," Emily said, remembering how she'd felt about Richard 41 years previously. "It means you probably do love him."

"More than anything," Lorelai told her mother. "He's always been there for me, he's been there for Rory. He's cared for me for years. He's the father of my son. He understands me more than any man ever has. We have our fair share of problems, but we get past them, mostly. "

"You two seem pretty perfect to me," Emily commented. "So what is holding you back?" Emily knew full well it wasn't anything bad about Luke that was holding her daughter back, it was just her daughter. "It's bride's prerogative to be terrified."

"What if it doesn't work out?" Lorelai asked. "What if he and I only worked so well in the past because we weren't legally bound to each other? I don't want to add to this country's divorce rate."

"You won't," Emily told her daughter.

"How could you possibly know that?" Lorelai asked.

"I don't," Emily said, typical response. "But you two have been put together so much over the years, it has to mean that you were meant to have a future."

"That's your best answer?" Lorelai challenged her mother.

"Are you looking for a way out?" Emily asked.

"No," Lorelai said, standing up. "I'm doing this."

"This isn't a contest you know," Emily told her.

"I know that," Lorelai said. "But if it was, I'd win."

Emily smiled at her daughter, and then turned to see the wedding dress hanging on the wall.

"The dress is beautiful," Emily said. "It would be a shame not to use it." The two Gilmores smiled at each other, and then Emily looked at her daughter's up-do.

"No wonder you were so panicky," Emily said. "I can't imagine that style is comfortable. What was the hairdresser thinking? That look isn't you at all." Lorelai laughed, and watched her mother reach for her hair. "Let's fix this, real quick." After the apparently offensive hair do was corrected, Emily helped her daughter into her dress.

"You can probably imagine what I'm here to talk to you about?" Richard asked to Luke as they stood behind the trailer, out of view of the house.

"Lorelai," Luke responded.

"Yes," Richard replied. "It's my right as her father to talk to the groom beforehand."

"Understandable," Luke said.

"I just want us to have an understanding," Richard said. Luke gulped; he wasn't familiar with protective father Richard. "Lorelai is my only daughter. As happy as I am to be here on her wedding day, I don't want to have to go to another one of these." Richard gave Luke a close look, trying to read his soon to be son-in-law's face. "What I'm saying is, can you promise me you'll be good to her?"

"I can't promise anything," Luke said honestly. "But I can tell you I'm going to try to do everything in my power to be the husband she deserves."

"That's not quite the response I wanted to here," Richard said, making Luke more nervous. "But, it certainly makes more sense." The two men smiled at each other. Richard reached out to straighten Luke's tie. "Are you sure you don't want a bow tie? It is a tuxedo."

"It's not really me," Luke said.

"Well, to each his own."

"Yeah…yes." Luke said, correcting himself. He wanted to sound somewhat intelligent on his wedding day. The two men followed by Jess made their way down to the beach. Richard departed from the groom and best man to go to the house to escort his daughter. When he got in the house, Rory, Sookie, and April were waiting.

Emily made her way down the stairs a moment later. When the girls saw her, they headed out. It was just Emily and Richard in the room.

"Is Lorelai ready?" Richard asked his wife.

"As ready as she'll ever be," Emily said. She looked up the winding stairs, and smiled. Richard could here the sound of heels followed by fabric lightly dragging coming down the stairs. His daughter came into view, and Richard was struck with wonderment. His daughter looked beautiful.

Lorelai had on her perfect dress, a veil (despite her head size) and nice shoes mostly hidden by the skirt. Her hair was most down, slightly curly from being in an up-do, but now just pinned at her temples.

"Ready when you are, dad," his bride daughter said. Richard walked over to her and gave her his arm. He walked her out of the house, and onto the lawn. On their way to the beach steps, Richard chose to make sure his daughter wanted to do this.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Absolutely," his daughter replied. But, she had one request that many a Gilmore Girl had had. "Just don't let me fall."

"Never," her father promised. And then they took the steps. They had the sound of the waves and seagulls as their music. It wouldn't have mattered if they'd had an orchestra or a boom box, the guests and especially Luke, were too mesmerized by Lorelai to need real music. The music was playing in their heads. "Here comes the bride."

As Lorelai and her father were descending the steps, the bridesmaids were walking down the aisle of sand. Luke was at the alter, with his nephew standing behind him. Emily was the last before Lorelai to walk down the aisle, carrying her grandson, with the rings. She non-verbally directed the guests to look to the bride, but most of them already were.

Lorelai held closely to her father, he made sure to not let her fall. As she walked down the aisle, she could hear her heartbeat, even with the sound of the ocean. But looking at Luke made the walk worth it. She turned to smile at her son and he giggled. She felt her daughter's hand on her shoulder for a moment. She finally reached out her hand to take Luke's, and her father gave her away.

It was slightly cliché, but Lorelai and Luke hardly heard Reverend Skinner. They just looked into each other's eyes. When it was time for Lorelai's vows, she sneaked a peak in her daughter's direction, and saw a look of encouragement from her. She said her vows as clearly as possible, flubbing a little when she tried to rush.

When Skinner asked the couple if they would be taking each other, their "I do's" were relieving to everyone, everyone was counting on this wedding, it was the one they'd awaited for years. Then, Skinner said the final words that melted the crowd.

"I know pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

And as if they world had turned to slow motion, the couple reached for each other, and had their first kiss, as husband and wife. After they had their moment, they were met by congratulations and embraces from their family and nearest guests. The couple tried to fight their way through the crowd, getting to as many people as possible. They managed to get to the steps and they ran up them. They got into the house, and let out cheers of their own.

"We finally did it!" Lorelai squealed.

"Finally!" Luke agreed. And then he picked her up in a spinning hug. They kissed again, more thoroughly than they had done in front of their family and friends. When they'd finished their long embrace, they saw that their guests had mostly made it up to the lawn. They knew it would be time soon to make their way out there. They saw Taylor heading towards the porch steps with a microphone. He'd be announcing them.

Luke took Lorelai by the arm, and they stood in front of the double doors.

"It is my great pleasure to announce, finally, Mr. and Mrs…Danes!" The newly married couple walked out onto the lawn, greeted by even more applause. They'd finally done it. Luke Danes and Lorelai Gilmore (now Danes) were finally married.

"Took you long enough," Taylor said to the couple, putting his hand over the microphone, trying to seem tactful.

"Zip it, Taylor," Luke said, through his teeth, smiling to the family. He pulled Lorelai along, and then put his hands to her waist, and lifted her in the air for the crowd. When he brought her back to the ground, they kissed again. They couldn't get enough of each other.


	62. Chapter 62 Intro Mrs Lorelai Huge Dog

Chapter 62

The newly married couple stood together to take wedding photos. They had done things a little out of order and had been announced first, and then they separated from the guests to be photographed.

They did their couple shots, and then got photos with their children. They posed with Richard and Emily, rather awkwardly. They did an entire family photo, and then Emily, Lorelai, and Rory took a 3 generations style photo. Then Lorelai and Rory went through half a roll of film taking goofy photos, to Emily's chagrin.

The family headed back to the guests, and Luke and Lorelai melted together into the crowd. Since April didn't know anyone, she paled around with Rory and Lucas. Emily socialized and worked with the caterers and her assistant to make sure everything went according to plan. Richard watched from the sidelines with a cigar.

Soon, it became time for the couple's first dance. Lorelai and Luke got onto the dance floor to "It is you I have loved," sung by Dana Glover. April had suggested it, of all people. After they'd had their song, and the music changed, the rest of the guests were invited to dance. Rory was sitting with her brother and stepsister, but she got an invitation to dance from Jess.

"Go ahead," April told her new sister, holding out her arms for their brother. "I'll watch him while you two dance."

"Alright then," Rory said, and she took Jess's hand.

"I couldn't attend this thing without getting at least one dance from you," Jess explained. "I need to make up for missing prom."

"Took you nearly 4 years to do that," Rory said.

"Hey, we weren't speaking until recently," Jess argued. "I couldn't have just showed up at Yale and asked for a dance, how weird would that have been?"

Rory laughed, and looked over at her mother and stepfather.

"They finally did it," Rory commented.

"I had faith in them," Jess said. Rory raised her eyebrow at him, and he just rolled his eyes and spun her around. "You know what they say about the best man and maid of honor?" he asked her.

"That nothing is going to happen," Rory cut to the chase. She knew what Jess was getting at. Jess pretended to be disappointed, but then Rory pointed out a sickening truth. "It would be so wrong, we're cousins now."

"Whoa!" Jess exclaimed, pretending to be just realizing this. "I guess that would be pretty weird."

"A little bit," Rory agreed.

Lorelai and Luke were sitting at the high table with Emily and Richard, when a surprise guest the couple had not been expecting showed up.

"Mia!" Lorelai screamed. She jumped up and hugged the woman who meant so much to her. "I wasn't sure if you'd be coming all the way from Charlotte."

"You thought I'd miss this?" Mia asked. She was then given a hug from Luke, who cared about her just as much.

"Who's this?" Richard asked. He had no idea that this was the woman who'd basically parented Lorelai from age 17 and up. So he had no reason to feel uncomfortable around her.

"She used to own the Independence Inn," Lorelai told her dad. But she then realized that her mother would be uncomfortable with this.

"Oh," Richard said, still oblivious. He came around the table to shake Mia's hand. Emily stayed in her seat; she wasn't comfortable being so close to Mia. She couldn't pretend she'd never met the woman, Lorelai would figure it out. Lorelai ended up going on a walk with Mia around the perimeter of the party. They passed by Rory and had a short conversation. Rory and Jess were still dancing. They didn't have the desire to stop.

A little while later, Lorelai came up to her father to ask him something.

"I didn't put it in the planner," she told him. "Because I wasn't sure if you'd be interested. But, would you dance with me?" Richard felt a little awkward about it, but he'd been wondering about it since the dancing started.

"Sure, why not," he said. Lorelai signaled to the D.J (not Kirk this time) and he got to the microphone to announce the Father-Daughter dance. Lorelai and Richard danced to Abba's, "Slipping through my fingers." Not Lorelai's first pick, but she had thought the D.J would have good judgment. Maybe not.

"How are you feeling Mrs. Danes?" Richard asked while they were dancing.

"Wha-ho-ho-ho," Lorelai stretched out her exclamation "That's so weird!"

"The name?"

"Yes, the name. The new title," she told him. "I don't know if I like being called that."

"Are you wishing you hadn't taken his name?" Richard asked.

"No, it's not that," Lorelai told him. "It's just that, that name signifies that I'm not the old me any more. I'm grown up."

"You've been grown up quite some time," Richard commented.

"Yeah, but, now I don't have the name I had all my childhood. It's a big adjustment."

"You'll do fine," Richard told her. "I know you will."

"Thanks, dad."

The father and daughter danced silently for a little, and then Richard finally spoke.

"This is an awkward song," he commented, making Lorelai laugh. Richard looked around and saw Luke in their vicinity, looking longingly at Lorelai. "I expect your husband is going to request you back soon."

"Husband?" Lorelai said. "Weird…"

While Lorelai and Richard were laughing, Luke made his way up to them. The song was almost over.

"Sorry to break up the fun," he asked them both. "But can I have my wife back?"

"Certainly, son," Richard told him. And just when the song sang about slipping through fingers, Lorelai's hand slipped from her fathers and went into Luke's hand, and Richard backed away. Richard went back to the sidelines next to Emily. They watched their daughter and her husband share a loving embrace.

"Something wrong, Richard?" Emily asked. Apparently Richard's face had been a strange one.

"I'm just realizing," Richard said, not taking his eyes off his daughter. "She's not our little girl any more."

Emily put her hand on her husband's arm, and said, "She's still our little girl." She looked at the new couple. "She's just married now."

Back in the table section of the lawn near the house, Rory and Jess were sitting close together, laughing and talking. April was sitting on the other side of the circular table. She was holding her brother on her lap, trying not to seem like a tag-along to her older stepsister.

"Come on," Jess said, standing up and holding his hand out to Rory. "Let's go walk the beach, before it gets too cold down there." Rory took Jess's hand, and they started to head down to the beach. But she looked at the house, to see someone coming around the corner.

Logan.

"Logan?" Rory asked. Logan was standing 7 feet away from her; he had a sexy smirk on his face. "What are you doing here?"

"Dad invited me to visit with him and mom at the cabin," he told her. "Thought I'd stop by and surprise you, since I was in the neighborhood."

"That's great," Rory said, excited. She hadn't realized she was still holding on to Jess's hand. But Logan noticed. Logan didn't seem as comfortable then. "Oh," Rory noticed, letting go of Jess's hand. "Logan…you know Jess?"

Logan didn't seem to keen on putting on a gentlemanly façade. He gave Rory a look that seemed questioning, and then he walked off.

"Logan!" Rory called out. She then ran after him. Jess went back to the dance floor area; he had no desire to watch Rory and Logan fight. Probably because they were fight over something as stupid at two friends spending time with each other. And then they'd make up, despite the fact that they were obviously so wrong for each other.

When Jess made his way near the D.J platform, the toasts part of the schedule were about to happen. Jess knew Rory needed to get back soon, as maid of honor she had to do a speech.

"Where's Rory?" Lorelai asked Jess. "She's up soon."

"She got distracted by something," Jess told her. "I have no idea when she's coming back."

"Distracted, distracted how?" Lorelai asked, worried.

"That's her business," Jess said rudely. As much as he'd changed since he was a hoodlum teen, he still had trouble being polite or verbal around Lorelai.

"Damn it Jess!" Lorelai said, annoyed. "Please go get her, please?"

"Whatever you say, Aunt Lorelai," Jess told her, calling her that for the first time. But he didn't mean it in a friendly way. He was too mad about Rory to be cordial. As he walked away, Lorelai twitched. Being called Aunt was irritating coming from him. Liz came up to Lorelai and Luke, acting rather odd.

"I'll do my speech first," she said. "Give Jess more time to find Rory." The couple looked at each other. It wasn't like their wedding was that traditional; Liz could go first if she wanted. But she was acting rather strange.

It became very obvious when Liz got on the platform, that she was drunk. Not a good thing, especially for a speaker. Liz spoke about how happy she was for her brother, and that the wedding was very nice. But after some rambling, she dropped a whopper on the crowd.

"I wish my husband was still here," she said. The crowd looked around, where was T.J? "But he ran off when I told him, I'm pregnant." The crowd was stunned into silence, as they watched the drunk woman with child. "Yeah, pregnant, can you believe that?"

Meanwhile, over by the house, Rory and Logan were talking.

"He and I were just hanging out," she tried to assure Logan.

"It didn't seem like it," Logan argued.

"Because I was holding his hand?" Rory asked. "That wasn't anything romantic, it's completely platonic all the way."

"You used to date, Ace," Logan reminded her. "You can't hate me for thinking that there's more to it than friendship with you two."

"Hate? What?" Rory asked. "Logan…"

"Rory!" Jess called out. Rory turned away from Logan, which purely annoyed him, to look at Jess. "You are supposed to be doing your maid of honor speech." Rory looked back at Logan, she really needed to be able to talk to him. "Your mom is freaking out," Jess told Rory. Rory made a fast decision; this was her mom's day. She'd talk to Logan later.

Jess and Rory got to the platform right when Liz was talking about T.J running away when he found out she was pregnant. To stop his drunken mother from saying anything else stupid, Jess went to get his mother off the platform, and sat her down. Rory went on the platform, awkwardly at first, and did her speech. Jess sat with his mother, and gave her some coffee. He scolded her for drinking, and then interrogated her for more information about T.J.

When Rory was done with her speech, it was technically Jess's turn. But he didn't want to go on.

"I have nothing to say," Jess said. He meant not only his speech, but to Rory as well. He stood up and headed out. "I'm going to find T.J," he told Rory. "He apparently is at one of the bars in this town. Tell Luke and Lorelai I'm sorry." Then Jess left. Rory turned to look at the platform. Lorelai and Luke were up there with Richard and Emily.

"We have a surprise for the young couple," Richard said to the crowd. Lorelai looked nervous, she had a feeling what was going on. Luke looked unsuspecting. Emily handed him an envelope. He opened it, and had a surprised look on his face.

"You bought us a house?" Luke asked, surprised. Lorelai was tensed for his reaction. She didn't know how Luke was going to show his anger, considering they were in front of a lot of people. But Lorelai was worried. Luke hated extravagant gifts. But Luke's response to this shocker was not what Lorelai expected.

"Thank you," Luke said to his new in-laws. "Thank you so much." He meant every word. Lorelai thought she was going to pass out. Luke was happy to have received this. Lorelai was so relieved. She'd really wanted this house, and now, she had it.

* What do you think? I had all burners firing on this one. –DD *


	63. Chapter 63 Like Father, Like Daughter

Chapter 63

Slowly the guests started to leave. Some caught the last ferry, and some took rooms at hotels because they left too late. Rory suggested to her mother that the baby stay at the vacation house for just that night.

"It's your wedding night, it should just be the two of you," Rory had said.

"We don't like being away from him at night," Lorelai had told her daughter. But Rory told her mom that having a night off from the baby didn't make her a bad parent. Luke agreed that Lucas could handle one more night without his parents. He'd be with them the entire honeymoon.

Luke and Lorelai headed out to the beach house Luke had rented. They'd chosen to stay in their wedding clothes (Luke had whispered in Lorelai's ear that he wanted to be the one to take her dress off, which excited her).

When they got to the house, despite how dark it was. Lorelai was impressed. The house was "sweet looking," according to Lorelai. Luke took her on a tour, and they laughed awkwardly about it.

"It's a beach house, with a pool?" Lorelai said astounded when she saw the backyard.

"It's pretty common actually," Luke said.

"Why have a pool when there is beach access?"

"I have no idea."

Luke showed her the room that Lucas would be staying in. Since he was 4 months old, they thought he could handle sleeping in a different room than his parents. The room was already decked out in baby paraphernalia. They'd toured everything, except, their bedroom.

When they got in there, they both marveled at the room, but Lorelai broke out of it before Luke did. Apparently the photo on the website hadn't done the place justice. Luke was looking around, checking out everything, very impressed. When Lorelai asked him to unzip her dress, he did so, without looking. The guy was still in awe of the room. Because of this, he hadn't realized his wife was almost all the way undressed, until her dress hit the floor. He turned to see her standing there attractively in her white bustier and thong. Lorelai reached for him slowly, but Luke sped up the process by hoisting her into his arms, her legs gripping his hips. Luke fell back onto the bed with her on top. Then they did what they'd been waiting for all day.

Back at the Gilmore vacation house, Jess had just got back. He'd reunited his mother and stepfather, after he realized T.J had only left her because she'd made him. He planned to go right to the trailer; the Gilmores had let him take it for the night. Jess could see Richard and Emily through the window, sitting in the dining room chatting lightly; L.J was in Richard's lap, asleep. Rory wasn't with them. She might be asleep already. Or, she could be with Logan. Jess decided to go to sleep in the trailer, until something caught his eye. On the far edge of the lawn near the stairs to the ocean, someone was sitting. Jess walked toward the silhouette, it was Rory.

"Aren't you cold?" Jess asked Rory. She was dressed in a cute sweat suit, her hair was in a low ponytail, and most of her makeup was off.

"I'm good," Rory said, quickly glancing at Jess. Jess gave her a closer look, and saw a bottle of vodka resting between her shins.

"I can guess why," Jess commented. He sat down next to her, reached for the bottle, and took a swig. "I feel better already."

Rory half-heartedly chuckled.

"You feeling okay?" Jess asked her. "Your mom finally got married, figured you'd be ecstatic."

"It wore off," Rory said depressingly. Jess had a feeling she'd thrown back quite a few. Jess took another swig, and groaned.

"You're feeling down about that blonde idiot aren't you?"

"He's not an idiot," Rory told him.

"Doesn't change that he's the one who's put you in this mood," Jess argued. "You guys haven't made up yet?" Rory sighed, and finally said what had been churning inside her.

"Logan feels that I can't handle a long distance relationship."

"So you guys are broken up?" Jess asked

"Taking a break," Rory clarified.

"Didn't that not work out the last time?" Jess asked. Luke had told him what had happened the previous year with Logan and Rory.

"He said it was a break," Rory said, drunkenly. "I'm assuming he means we will get back together."

"Okay then," Jess said. Rory took another drink, but had 3 gulps. Jess worked the bottle out of her hands, and put it where she couldn't reach it. "That's enough," Jess said.

"Party pooper," Rory commented. Jess lay back on the blanket, Rory saw him move, and decided to do the same thing. They looked up at the sky, in silence. Jess figured nothing that would come out of Rory's mouth would be well formed, so he wasn't going to try to keep up conversation. But Rory ended up talking to him.

"Thanks for making up for prom," she told him.

"No problem," Jess said.

"It was nice today…" Rory said sleepy from being drunk.

"Your grandparents are going to be wondering where you are," Jess said.

"I'll go in eventually," Rory told him. "I want to enjoy the night." Then, Rory rolled over on top of Jess.

"Want to continue making up for Prom?" she asked.

"Rory…" Jess tried to ward her off.

"Why not?" she asked drunkenly. "I'm a free woman now, take a crack at me. Well, maybe not crack, I'm not into that kind of thing, but…"

"Rory, stop!" Jess said, sitting up and pushing Rory off of him.

"Why?" she asked. "I know you want to! Or at least you did, I remember Kyle's party pretty damn well, Buster."

"We are not doing this," Jess told her. "Not this way."

"You are such a freaking party pooper!" Rory yelled moronically.

"Rory," Jess tried to convince her. "You're drunk, and you just broke up with your long term boyfriend."

"It's a temporary break…" Rory said.

"Well that would make us sleeping together more wrong then wouldn't it?" Jess argued.

"Why don't you want me?" Rory whined.

"Because you don't want me," Jess told her. "You said that earlier."

Jess got up off the blanket, and pulled Rory up.

"Let's get you inside…" he tried to get her to move.

"No!" she yelled, swatting him away. "Let me take care of myself!" She was now angry drunk.

"Fine," Jess said. And he headed towards the trailer. Rory reached back down to get the vodka bottle. She tried to take another drink of it, but she was too angry to focus her hand. Instead she used all her strength to throw the bottle off the cliff into the ocean.


	64. Chapter 64 Smacking Shoulders

Chapter 64

Rory sat in the backseat of Emily's Mercedes next to Lucas in his car seat. Richard was driving with Emily in the passenger seat. Every now and then, Rory turned to look behind her. Jess was following them in Luke's truck. They were headed over to Lorelai and Luke's beach house to drop off L.J, and to give Luke his truck back.

Rory was hungover, but no more resolved on her triangle with Jess and Logan. If she hadn't been drunk last night, she wouldn't have thrown her self so desperately at Jess, but she would have wanted to. She loved Logan, but she hated living in a different country than him, and he was always going to be insecure about their future because of the long distance. Jess was far more geographically desirable. But, Jess knew full well how Rory felt about Logan; she'd never fully be his.

When they all got to the house, Lorelai came out wearing Luke's flannel shirt, and nothing else, as far as they could tell.

"Lorelai, really!" Emily exclaimed in disapproval. Lorelai merely rolled her eyes, and took Lucas out of Rory's hands. She headed into the house and Rory followed her, she needed to talk to her mom. Luke came out to get his keys from his nephew. He was fully dressed.

"You managed to get it here without scratching it?" Luke asked Jess.

"I think any damage I made managed to conceal itself among the rust and worn off paint," Jess mocked. Luke reached out and tousled his nephew's hair. Jess swatted Luke's hand away, and fixed what he could of his do. Luke turned to Richard and Emily to thank them for watching the baby.

"It was no problem," Richard said.

"He was very well behaved," Emily commented.

"Yeah, he generally is," Luke said. "And the house, again, thank you."

"We're glad it made you happy," Richard said.

"Lorelai worried you wouldn't like such an extravagant wedding gift," Emily told him.

"Lorelai said that?" Luke asked.

"Oh…" Emily regretted saying anything, her daughter hadn't informed her husband of her involvement. "It's a long story," Emily told him.

"Okay…" Luke said, he'd ask Lorelai about it later.

"As soon as Rory comes back out we will be on our way," Richard said. They all looked toward the house, Lorelai and Rory were out of sight.

While the rest of them had been talking, Lorelai and Rory had been having a conversation of their own in the overly windowed family room.

"It's a break, or a break up?" Lorelai asked to clarify.

"He claimed he just wanted a break," Rory told her. "He didn't make it sound like we were done."

"But Logan in the past…" Lorelai started to say.

"He won't be that way again!" Rory growled, annoyed.

"Can the same be said for you?" Lorelai asked.

"Nothing happened between me and Jess," she said.

"You're sure?" her mother asked. "You were drunk."

"Jess blew off my advances," Rory said. "Jess didn't want me last night, not after he'd seen Logan again."

"Do you even like Jess that way?" Lorelai asked.

"I don't know," Rory answered. "I thought I was over him, but I had no problem kissing him back in March."

"I think, you've always had 'what if?' feelings about him," Lorelai analyzed.

"I have those kind of feelings about a lot of things," Rory commented.

"Well, you either figure out the answer to them, or you keep on wondering," her mother told her.

"Are you saying I give Jess a chance?" Rory asked.

"I don't know," Lorelai said seriously. But then of course she had to make a joke. "If you feel you need to give love a chance with your cousin, I so totally support that." Lorelai then laughed.

"You make it all sound so gross!" Rory said, swatting her mother's shoulder.

After a final goodbye, the rest of the family left. They had plans to come up and visit later in the month when it was warmer. As soon as they were gone, Luke questioned Lorelai about her house knowledge.

"So, you already knew about the house, I've been told," Luke said in an inquisitive tone.

"Oh…" Lorelai said guiltily. "They gave me up huh?"

"Yep." 

"Well, I admit it officer, I'm an accessory," Lorelai gave in, which only made Luke laugh. "I would have told you about it, but I didn't think there was any point. I turned them down. They went against me when they decided to give the house to us anyway."

"Why'd you turn it down?" Luke asked. But he understood soon after he said it. "You thought I'd be offended by the gift." Luke answered for him. Lorelai chose not to let him know he was right, he already knew. "While it's true, I do think this gift was too much," Luke told her. "I'm also grateful. Do you know how much a house like this would cost? I'm ecstatic that I didn't have to pay for it out of my own pocket."

Lorelai smiled.

"You, just made yourself sound really cheap," she commented. "I hope you know that."

"I title I in this situation, happily accept." Luke said. He would have bowed, but he would have felt like an idiot. The newly married couple got close to each other; ready to reenact the night before, when they heard their son crying from his room.

"Time to be parents," Lorelai said. And then the two of them headed upstairs.

Since Jess had come to the Vineyard with Luke, he had no way to get home, other than ride with the Gilmores. He sat in the backseat where his cousin's car seat had been. He and Rory didn't speak. They had nothing to say to each other. Not in front of Emily and Richard anyway.

When they got back to Stars Hollow, Rory chose to be let off in front of the diner along with Jess. Emily and Richard dropped them off, suspecting nothing. They had assumed the quiet in the backseat was normal, typical of them. When they got out, they stood in front of the diner, not speaking at first. Rory chose to break the silence much like she had last night, only sober now.

"I'm sorry about last night," she said.

"No problem," Jess told her. "You were having a rough time."

"So, you and I can just forget it?" Rory asked.

"Oh," Jess said. "You pouncing on me seductively will forever be burned into my brain, but…" Rory smacked his shoulder, not aggressively, but to shut him up. "How long until your break with Logan is over?"

"No idea, I think he's calling the shots," Rory said.

"Well that's not fair," Jess said. "If you want out, you have the right to call it quits."

"What makes you think I want out?" Rory asked.

"You might have been drunk," he told her. "But your feelings were real."

"I could have been desperate for anyone," Rory said. "You don't know that."

"And neither do you," he argued.

"I love Logan," Rory stated.

"And you like me," Jess said. "You said you might have loved me."

"I said that last night?" Rory asked, she didn't remember that.

"No," Jess said. "On the phone the day of your high school graduation." Rory then really smacked Jess hard.

"You were on the other end!" she yelled. "I knew it!"

"I don't think it was that much of a mystery," Jess said. Rory turned away from him and looked at the diner.

"I need coffee," she said aloud. And then she walked away from him into the diner. Jess ended up following her. He knew she wasn't done with him yet.


	65. Chapter 65 Kissing Cousins

Chapter 65

For a few weeks, Jess and Rory exchanged calls. They didn't talk about their feelings for each other; they just acted like really good friends. Rory was enjoying their phone calls, it was nice to have nothing be expected out of her. So much couldn't be said for Logan; he hadn't called her at all.

Towards the end of their month in Martha's Vineyard, Lorelai and Luke invited her parents, Rory, April, and Jess to visit. It wasn't summer yet, but it was warm enough, and the pool was slightly heated. Jess wasn't all that interested in going to the Vineyard again. It wasn't his thing. But, he wanted to see Rory. Because they were avoiding their feelings, they hadn't visited with each other. But if they visited under the pretense that they were spending time with family, the pressure wouldn't be as obvious.

Emily and Richard arrived at the beach house last. The sound of the car alerted Lorelai to walk around the house from the backyard to greet them. Lorelai was already dressed in her 70's style tankini with flip-flops and large sunglasses balanced on top of her head.

"You've certainly adapted to the Vineyard youthful clothing style," Emily commented, thinking her daughter might be too old to be dressing that way.

"Hey, it's finally warm enough," Lorelai said. She led her parents to the pool. When it came into view, they saw that Rory and Jess were relaxing on the pool's submerged steps. April was sitting on a beach chair with a book. And then they saw Luke coming out from the house, carrying the baby monitor.

"Lucas is officially asleep," Luke said.

"Finally," Lorelai said. She put her arms around his shoulders and kissed him. "Now, where's your swim suit?" 

"I figured I'd stay dry today," Luke said resting his hands on her hips.

"It's a pool party, Luke," Lorelai whined. "Now get in those trunks!"

"We swam yesterday," Luke argued.

"Luke Danes…" his wife scolded.

"I think they're still wet," Luke said.

"And that matters why?" Lorelai asked, gesturing towards the pool.

"Come on, Luke," Jess said. "What are you, chicken?"

"Oh! Chicken!" Rory exclaimed. Everyone looked at her funny. "We should play chicken," Rory explained.

"Isn't that kind of dangerous?" April asked.

"Not if it's played right," Rory said.

"Well you can count me out," April said.

"I'm in," Jess said.

"So am I," Rory said obviously. "Mom? Luke?"

"I'll try it," Lorelai said, smiling up at her husband.

"I don't know," Luke said, thinking about the dangers.

"Hey," Jess said. "If you aren't strong enough to carry your wife on your shoulders…" 

"He's not afraid," Lorelai challenged. "I'm a feather!" Luke twitched, betraying himself. Lorelai glared at him. Then she decided to play Jess's game. "You probably can't handle it," she said to Luke.

"I can handle it just fine," Luke said. He looked around at his family. He felt very awkward having all of their attentions. "I'll go get my suit."

"Yes!" Rory exalted.

They waited for Luke, talking lightly. Then, Rory and Lorelai started verbally competing.

"You're gonna lose!" Lorelai said.

"No, you're going to lose!" Rory argued.

"You!"

"You!" 

"You! Ah!" Lorelai screamed. Distracted by her daughter, she hadn't realized her husband was right behind her. He pushed her in. She still had her sunglasses on her head and her flip-flops on. She stood up in the pool, her face reacting to the change in temperature and the shock of being pushed. "Evil!" Lorelai exclaimed. Everyone laughed at her.

Then, as Luke got into the pool and he and Jess walked to the center of it, the girls got out. It would be easier to get on the guys' shoulders if the girls got on top from the concrete. As Lorelai got out of the pool, the water rearranged her swimsuit bottom, making her tattoo visible.

"Is that?" Richard asked.

"Don't even ask," Emily replied.

Once Lorelai was on Luke's shoulders and Rory was on Jess's shoulders, they began the game. On the first round, Lorelai won. Rory and Jess fell backward into the water, and Lorelai raised her arms in victory, laughing. The second round was different. Both girls knew each other's strengths, so winning against each other was difficult. Lorelai and Rory weren't tired, but the guys were. While the girls were starring each other down, focusing on their hands, the guys were plotting silently.

Lorelai looked down, and saw the guys mouthing to each other.

"What are you doing down there?" Lorelai asked suspiciously.

"One," Luke said.

"What?" Rory asked.

"Two," Jess said.

"Oh no!" Lorelai exclaimed.

"Three!" the guys said at the same time. And then, Luke and Jess each walked backwards, pulling the girls apart. This time, both groups fell backward into the water. As soon as they were all back on their feet, Jess and Luke high fived.

"Bastards," Lorelai growled, but then she smiled. It was funny.

April ended up joining them in the pool, after most of the messing around was over. Richard and Emily stayed on the beach chairs, relaxing. After a while, the group decided to head inside to just have nice conversation. Everyone except Rory and Jess, who chose to stay outside.

"Hey," Jess said. The two of them were finally alone. They acted differently around the family.

"Hey," Rory said back.

Jess ended up pulling Rory to him, for a hug.

"I wanted to do that earlier," Jess told her.

"Just a hug?" Rory asked. "Boy, you've mellowed."

"Well, I'd be lying if hugging was all I wanted to do," Jess said. "But, I know it's best that we don't do anything else."

"Such a gentleman," Rory commented. But then they betrayed their agreement. They ended up in the changing room.

"Very, 'Fast times at Ridgemont High,'" Jess commented.

"But far less awkward, I hope," Rory said. Jess and Rory got close to each other, and kissed. They moved slowly at first, yet soon they were hungry for each other. They were both in swimsuits, so most of the job was out of the way. But despite that convenience, they didn't get too far. Somehow April had been drawn to the hut, and opened the door to find her stepsister and cousin in a compromising embrace.

"Sorry!" she said, quickly closing the door. Jess and Rory got off of each other. The mood was off.

"I think we should just…" Rory said awkwardly.

"Yeah, we should," Jess said. "Besides, I have a feeling there's a possibility your mom and Luke have done it in here."

"Yeah," Rory said. "Ew."

The two of them decided to leave the hut, separately. They joined the rest of the family in the kitchen. April was avoiding their eyes. But when she finally looked up, she and Rory shared a look. April mouthed, "I'm sorry." Rory mouthed, "Don't worry." There really was nothing to worry about. She didn't think it was likely for anything else to happen. Jess was turned off.


	66. Chapter 66 Honeymoon's over

Chapter 66

The Danes family came back to Stars Hollow on their one-month anniversary. They had a dinner with family and friends that night in the front yard. The month of July would be spent packing up the house, and moving into their new one. Lorelai wanted to give The Crap Shack the best send off she could give it. She was excited to move into the new one (who's name they hadn't yet decided), but she would miss this house. It had meant to so much to her.

"I want to keep it," Lorelai told Luke, when he asked her about which Real Estate office they'd use.

"But," Luke asked. "I thought you liked the new one?"

"I'm not saying I don't want to move," Lorelai told him. "I'm saying I want to keep on owning this one."

"You want it to just be here empty?" Luke asked. "You said you didn't want anyone else living in it."

"I'm willing to give in on that one," Lorelai said. "We could use extra cash, the house is very nice, I'm sure we could rent it out to someone decent."

"I guess we could," Luke said. "You're sure about this?"

"Absolutely," Lorelai said. In all honesty, she'd still rather no one else lived in it, but she knew Luke would be more comfortable about keeping it if they used it to rent. "The house is perfect for a newly married couple or a retired couple," Lorelai said. "I'm sure finding someone to rent it won't be hard."

The next day, Lorelai and Rory spent the day around the house. They weren't ready to pack it up yet. They just wanted to sit, and remember. The girls were sentimentalists by nature. This house had meant so much to them. They wanted to enjoy it one last time before saying goodbye.

The day after, packing began. They packed every other day. Lorelai spent her packing free days at the Inn. Luke couldn't stay away from the diner at all, Cesar needed help, so he only helped out at night. He also had his own apartment to pack up. Lorelai and Rory worked on the house mostly. It meant the most to them. April took breaks from hanging out with her dad at the diner to come help her stepfamily.

Before moving into the new house, they had all decided how to organize the bedrooms. There were 5 bedrooms. Lorelai and Luke were obviously sharing. They decided to have Rory and April share as well, since they'd be half living there. That left 3 other bedrooms available. Lucas would get his own. They decided that a guest room might be a good idea. That left one more bedroom.

"We could let the girls have their own," Lorelai said. "It would take up more space than they need, but it's not like we are scarce for it."

"We need to leave that last bedroom open," Luke told her.

"For what?" Lorelai asked.

"Maybe," Luke said, putting his arms around his wife's waist from behind her. "Baby number 4?" Lorelai turned around in her husband's arms.

"4?" she asked.

"Yeah," Luke said. "We can still have another."

"You want one?" she asked.

"Yeah," Luke said. "Why not? The other 3 turned out pretty good."

"Yes, but it took a lot of work, getting them to 'pretty good.'"

"I think we can handle it," Luke said.

"Sure," Lorelai said. "But," she started to say. "How soon does baby number 4 have to present itself? L.J isn't even a year old yet."

"Well, we can wait until then," Luke said. "I wasn't expecting baby number 4 to be made right now."

"Just checking," Lorelai said. As much as she wanted another child with Luke, she wasn't keen on losing her figure again just yet.

They spent a week packing up the house. The day the moving van came, so did Jess. Again, he was there under the pretense of spending time with family. But, he really just wanted to see Rory. Jess got to the house and let himself in. He walked the path to Rory's room, and found a lot of it still in tact. Things were boxed. But her bed, dresser, and desk were still there.

"Just like I remembered it," Jess said. Rory was sitting on her bed, lost in thought. She turned when she heard his voice.

"A lot has happened in here," she said. "This was the first bedroom I had all to myself. I've done homework in here, read amazing books, hung out with Lane, hell I even…" she stopped, but then decided to just say it. "I even lost my virginity in here."

"Ew, with Logan? Get that image out of my head," Jess said, shaking his head quickly.

"Logan wasn't my first," she told him.

"He wasn't?" Jess said surprised. "Then who?" Rory just bit her lip and grimaced. Jess figured it out soon enough.

"Dean?" he asked. "Jeeze, you lost it with that idiot?"

"Yeah," Rory admitted.

"When?" Jess asked. "When you were dating? You told me when we were together that you two hadn't done it."

"It was after high school," Rory said.

"I thought he was married?"

"He was…" Rory said sheepishly.

Instead of being disgusted with Rory, or sympathetic about what she went through, Jess just laughed, really hard.

"You broke up a marriage, wow, you should be in a hall of fame," Jess joked.

"Ha ha," Rory said, not really finding it that funny. "I'm glad I amuse you."

"Yeah," Jess said. "But I know, I shouldn't be laughing. Sorry."

"It's okay," Rory said. "I moved on."

Once everything in the house was packed up, the family was ready to leave, almost. Jess, Luke, and April stood against the porch railings. Lorelai and Rory were in the house, giving it a last walk through. Lucas was in Lorelai's arms, not old enough to understand what was going on.

"I'm glad you aren't selling it," Rory told her mother.

"I just couldn't do it," Lorelai said. "I know that this house isn't right for our family any more, but I couldn't just toss it out."

"The extra money will be nice," Rory said. "Maybe you should rent it out to Lane and Zack. They are expecting now, they could use the space."

"I suppose we could," Lorelai said. "We have to make it extremely affordable though."

"We're you planning on making the rent astronomical?" Rory asked.

"No, I'd never do that," Lorelai said. "But, I know the VanGerbig family isn't raking in the dough."

"You can probably work it out with them," Rory said.

Once Rory felt comfortable to leave, she took Jess, April, and L.J in her car. Lorelai and Luke stayed behind, Lorelai wasn't quite finished saying goodbye.

"It isn't really goodbye," Luke told her.

"What is it then?" Lorelai asked. "'See you later?' We won't be living here any more."

"But we aren't getting rid of it," Luke reminded her. "You can visit any time you want."

"I'm sure the tenants will love that," Lorelai said.

"The kind of tenants you pick out will be people who like you," Luke said.

"Maybe," Lorelai said. They were standing in the living room, it was completely empty. Luke sat down on the floor, pulling his wife down with him.

"The kids and the movers can handle the boxes," Luke said. "We can just sit here for the whole day if you want."

"If I stay here too long, I won't want to leave," Lorelai said, teary eyed. Luke turned his wife's face towards him, and kissed her. Without saying anything, they chose to make love in the house one last time. As much as Lorelai loved being close to her husband, she really only had her old house on her mind. Lorelai's eyes stayed looking up at the ceiling the entire time.

Lorelai's decision to leave the house was finally made for her, when she got a call from Rory. The movers had some questions for Luke and Lorelai that Rory didn't know how to answer. Luke and Lorelai took their cars and headed towards their new house. Lorelai saw her old house getting smaller and smaller in her mirror.

"Good bye, Crap Shack," Lorelai said.

When the couple got to the new house, movers were busy moving things in; the kids were outside in the front yard.

"You guys helping the movers?" Luke asked.

"We haven't gone inside yet," April said.

"Why not?" Luke asked.

"The girls wanted to wait for you," Jess told them.

"Aw, that's sweet," Lorelai said. She and Luke stood in the walkway up to the house. They gave each other one last look, and then they headed inside. Their family followed them in.

Everyone fell in love with the house upon seeing the interior. It wasn't just perfect for Luke and Lorelai; it was perfect for their children as well. After they toured the house, they started to help the movers. At the end of the day when the moving truck drove off, the family was exhausted. Luke used his remaining energy to cook a nice dinner for them, and then most of them went to bed. When Lorelai and Luke got under their covers in their new room, Lorelai had just one thing to say.

"Hello, new life."


	67. Chapter 67 Triangle

Chapter 67

"You've been married almost 3 months," Rory said, while her mother watched her packing up to move back to school.

"I know!" Lorelai exclaimed happily. "It's crazy! Me of all people!"

"Lucas is almost 6 months old," Rory said.

"Time's flying by," Lorelai commented.

"Has Luke brought up having another baby yet?" Rory asked her mother.

"Well, after that pregnancy scare we had in late July, it's definitely on both of our minds," Lorelai said. When Lorelai's next period after her and Luke's moment together in the old house had been late, she'd thought she was pregnant again. But her period ended up showing up before she could go buy a pregnancy test. It was just a false alarm.

"He was really sad when you realized you were wrong wasn't he?" Rory asked.

"Well so was I," Lorelai told her daughter. "It wasn't the best time for us to be pregnant, that fact is what keeps it from hurting me."

"I'm sorry though," Rory said.

"It's okay," Lorelai said. "I want Lucas to be at least one years old before I'm pregnant again."

"You think it will be so easy this time?" Rory asked honestly.

"What do you mean?" Lorelai asked.

"Well, mom," Rory said awkwardly, but then she got the courage to get right to the point. "It's not easy for women your age to get pregnant."

"Yeah, your brother is a great example of that," Lorelai joked.

"You know that was probably just luck, mom," Rory said. "You're 38, it could not only be hard to get pregnant, but also dangerous for the baby."

"I'm aware of that," Lorelai said. "That's why this next one is most likely going to be our last."

"Okay then," Rory said. "But some advice, if another baby is so important to you, you might want to start trying for one before L.J is one. It could take a while."

"Luke and I will figure it out," Lorelai said. Then, she inspected one of her daughter's duffel bags. "Maybe having another kid wouldn't be a good idea, since I'm obviously going to college."

"What?" Rory asked.

"A lot of my good clothes are in this bag of yours," Lorelai said, running her hand through it Aw, Rory! You want me to go to college with you!"

"Ha ha," Rory said, trying to get her mom to leave the bag alone.

"Oh, you're so sweet to think of me!" Lorelai joked further. "We are gonna have a lot of fun!" Lorelai and Rory got into a playful cat fight, and then laughed together.

The next morning, Lorelai and Rory were sitting at the breakfast table. L.J was in his high chair, being fed by Lorelai. He was finally old enough for rice cereal. Lorelai had stopped breast-feeding. She felt it was time. The baby was on formula. He'd be able to eat other baby foods soon.

"Wait a minute," Lorelai said, putting L.J's spoon down, despite her son's opinion. "Where are you going to live?"

"What?" Rory asked.

"You were living in Logan's apartment," her mother explained. "But you guys are still on a break, do you still get to live at the loft?"

Rory had no answer for her mom, but she had thought about it. She wasn't sure if she'd still be living there. She wasn't comfortable asking Logan about it, they'd hardly talked. Rory basically had a faulty plan: to go to the apartment and see if her key still worked. Paris had told her she'd be willing to let her move back in if need be. If her key was rejected, she'd call Paris. And she'd assume from there that she and Logan were broken up. Then she and Jess could finally give each other a shot. They'd just been friends this summer; they hadn't been affectionate since the changing hut incident. She would have broken up with Logan already, if she didn't still love the guy. After her experience with her Dean/Jess triangle in high school, Rory hadn't desired to ever be in that situation again. But alas, she was, again.

Rory stood in front of her apartment door, key in hand, hesitating. She hadn't heard anyone unfamiliar in there. She knew she could just ask the doorman if she still lived there, but how idiotic would that make her feel? She finally got enough courage to try her key. It worked. She walked in, to see all of Logan's belongings still there. She brought all of her stuff in, but didn't unpack anything. She knew she really needed to call Logan. But she didn't know what she'd say; she didn't know how she felt.

She decided what she'd do, would be to ask him if she was still supposed to live there. He hadn't gone ahead to have her evicted, but that might be because he didn't want to be rude. Or, he didn't consider this to be his apartment any more. She couldn't afford this rent.

Rory called him, but got his answering machine. She was very nervous. The message she left proved that.

"Hi, Logan, it's me," she said. "I'm back at Yale, and well, in all honesty I don't know if I should be standing in the apartment. Is it still mine? Are we still together? I mean, what are we? I hate to ask this on your machine, but I need to know what we are. This 'break' as you call it has gone on long enough." She'd earned some guts toward the end of her message, but her goodbye wavered with nervousness. "Call me back, when you get this. Bye."

Rory sat down on the chair near the bed; she couldn't get comfortable in this place. But soon, her phone rang. She answered it quickly, not even looking at the read out.

"That was obnoxiously cheerful," Jess said on the other end. Rory felt more uneasy. She hated having to choose between the two of them.

"Hi," Rory said again, more normal.

"You didn't look at the number before you answered did you?" Jess asked.

"I called Logan right before you called me," she told him honestly.

"How'd that turn out?" Jess asked.

"Got his machine," Rory said.

"But you didn't let that stop you," Jess said, he knew her really well.

"He knows what he has to say when he finally calls me back," Rory said. "Either we are together or we're not."

"You do know that's your call as well, you know," Jess reminded her.

"I know," Rory said. She didn't know what else to say. She was as much in control of this as Logan was. But, she didn't know what she wanted, which Jess pointed out to her.

"I'm sorry to be stringing you along," she told him after he pointed out her indecision.

"Hey, this is a world I'm familiar with," Jess said. "Your heart."

"Tell me what will happen with us," Rory said. "If Logan and I do break up."

"We will try to date again," Jess told her. "Luke will want to kill me, but we won't let that stop us. But soon enough, you and I will probably both realize that we aren't meant for each other."

"Because of Logan?" Rory asked.

"That, and the fact that we aren't teenagers any more," Jess said.

"So, is there any point?" Rory asked negatively.

"Well, if you can't handle disappointment, then there is probably no point," Jess said. "But, you gave both Dean and Logan second shots. Don't I deserve one?"

Before Rory could answer, the loft phone started to ring. Logan's cell number was on the caller i.d.

"Logan's calling," Rory said. She didn't want to hang up on Jess, but she had no answer for him.

"Go ahead," Jess said. "Call me back when you're ready."

Rory hung up with Jess, and slowly reached for the other phone.

"Hi," she said to Logan.

"Hey," he said. His voice sounded nervous, yet hopeful. "Don't move out just yet," he said. "Give me one more chance." Rory looked down at her cell phone, Logan had no idea that he was part of a triangle. Who was Rory going to chose?

"We need to talk about us first," she told her possible boyfriend. "Prove to me that we deserve another chance."

* Okay, just so you all know, I already know whom Rory is going to choose. But, just out of curiosity, who do you all think is better for Rory: Jess or Logan? Give me reasons in your comments. –DD *


	68. Chapter 68 Triangleless

Chapter 68

"You going to stay here a while this time?" Paris asked when she and Doyle were helping Rory carry her stuff into their apartment.

"I only left last time because you kicked me out," Rory said.

"No, you were moved back in here for a few hours back in March," Paris reminded her. "You left of your own accord last time."

"Well," Rory said. "Technically."

"So, you and Logan are definitely over?" Paris asked, more sensitive this time.

"He wasn't so keen on staying with me when he found out I really did have feelings for Jess."

"Why'd you tell him?"

"Felt I had to," Rory said. "We were talking about us, his bridesmaids came up. I told him I kissed Jess at his open house. That upset him."

"He had just cheated on you," Paris argued. "He deserved it."

"It happened right before he nearly died," Rory said. "He felt me kissing Jess was insensitive."

"He pulled that card? Seriously?" Paris asked, in her usual tone of disbelief. "He's an idiot."

"Doesn't much matter now," Rory said. "We're over."

Rory looked away, trying to keep control of her self. Her off and on best friend put her hand on her shoulder.

"I'm really sorry," Paris said. She reached further and put her arm around Rory's shoulders, resting her head on Rory's shoulder. They stood like that for a few seconds before Paris asked, "You going to cry?"

"No," Rory said.

"Good," Paris said, letting go of her. "I'm not that understanding. You cry, and you are out of here." That made Rory chuckle.

"You got it," Rory said. She headed toward her room.

"Go call Jess," Paris said. "Let that Kerouac lover know you're his."

"I will," Rory said, and then she closed the door. She sat down on the bed, but didn't reach for her phone. She wasn't ready to call him yet. After she and Logan had broken up, her first call had been to Paris and Doyle to help her move out. She'd texted her mother the news. She didn't like talking about it yet.

Meanwhile at the house, Luke and T.J were working on home improvement. A plumber was working on the bathrooms, all 4 and a half of them. Luke and T.J were busy putting in a circular above ground pool. Lorelai and April were away from the house, shopping for deck furniture, and something else both of them were excited about.

After a week of being back in school, and living with Paris and Doyle, Rory was already ready to visit home again. When she'd called Jess earlier in the week, to tell him she was free, he had suggested that she take some time off from men. He didn't want to be her rebound, even if she broke up with Logan for him.

Rory came home, to see her mom and stepsister sitting on the porch waiting for her, grinning from ear to ear.

"What's up?" she asked. She knew they were up to something.

"We've got a surprise for you," April said.

"Okay…" Rory said. They led her around to the backyard. She saw the decked up, well, deck, and the pool. "Nice additions," she commented.

"Those aren't the only ones," Lorelai said.

"There's more?" Rory asked.

"Yep," April said, giggling.

"Now, Rory," her mother said. "I know you used to have a problem with these, but I hope over the years, you've grown out of it." She pulled her daughter further and pointed. Rory saw what the final surprise was.

"Oh. My. God," she said.

15 minutes later, Emily and Richard showed up. Lorelai had invited them, to see the house's final touches. April heard the car and called her father. Luke went around the house to greet them.

"The place looks great," Richard said, when the deck came into view.

"Thanks," Luke said.

"Where are the girls?" Emily asked.

"They're out at the moment," Luke said.

"When do they get back?" Emily asked.

"As soon as I call them," Luke said, pulling out his phone. "Lorelai," he said into his phone, "they're here." He hung up and walked further into the yard, facing the wide expanse of land they owned. Richard and Emily followed him, confused. "They're coming," he told them. Richard and Emily were still confused, until they heard a noise coming towards them.

It was the sound of horse hooves. The girls soon came into view. They were each riding horses, galloping towards the house. Wind was blowing through their hair, their faces showed they were having the time of their lives.

"Lorelai finally has a horse," Richard said. He and his wife smiled at each other.

"3, actually," Luke said. He then walked up to the girls who had stopped right by the stables. He helped both of them of their horses, and then the girls took the horses inside. Emily and Richard came into the stables, and Lorelai introduced her 3 new babies.

"This is, Bono, Bowie, and Freddy," she said.

"Freddy?" Richard asked.

"I had nothing to do with that one," Lorelai said. "It's April's horse."

The family laughed, and then headed toward the deck. The Danes house was officially perfect in Lorelai's mind. Her life, was finally perfect.


	69. Chapter 69 Horses and Husbands

Chapter 69

Time went by fast, and all of a sudden it was November. Lorelai and Luke were doing well. They'd been married 5 months. Lucas was now 9 months. Rory was well into her senior year, and doing decently with Jess. They were taking things slow. They officially got together in September. Rory didn't want to rush into anything. She'd slept with Dean after they'd been broken up for a year and a half, and he'd still been married. She had slept with Logan pretty quickly, and the relationship had basically been a friend with benefits type deal. Jess was her boyfriend before anything else had happened. It was different with him. She wanted to see if they could get past the two-month mark. And they had.

It was time for the annual parents weekend at Yale. Rory's parents had never attended one of these. Lorelai had no intention of attending the 4th. She didn't consider it sentimental. But, wind from Christopher-land blew in to Stars Hollow, when Lorelai received an email from her estranged ex.

Lor-

Don't worry; I'm keeping my promise to stay away, except for Rory related reasons. I got a postcard in the mail about Parent's Weekend at Yale. Since it's Rory related, can we go together? I figured you'd be going, why don't I tag along?

-Chris

Lorelai laughed when she read, "I figured you'd be going." Chris had no idea how silly Lorelai found the concept of 'Parent's Weekend.' Chris was looking for loopholes to see her. She knew that. But considering how they had talked last time, and the fact that she was now married, was their any stunt Chris could pull? She knew Luke would be suspicious, but she trusted Christopher now.

"Hell, no," Luke said when she told him. They were in the garage; Luke was working on his father's boat.

"It's for Rory," she reminded him.

"You don't seriously believe that's all he wants do you?" Luke asked.

"No," Lorelai said. "He wants to see me, of course. But come on, Luke. We are going to be at Yale, seeing Rory. Don't you think Rory has the right to visit with both her parents?"

"She can visit her parents any time she wants," Luke said. "Separately."

"Luke…" Lorelai said sternly. "You are my husband, not my warden. I'm allowed to socialize with the father of my daughter."

"You know what agreement we had," Luke said, stone cold.

"To, 'only have contact about Rory,'" Lorelai quoted. "It's Parent's Weekend, at Rory's school. I don't know about you but I'm pretty sure that follows under the agreement."

"He's got a plan!" Luke bellowed.

"What could it possibly be?" Lorelai asked. "I'm married! His chance to get me back disappeared 5 months ago!"

"He never gives up," Luke argued.

"He's done trying to get me back," Lorelai told him. "I know he is." She did know. Christopher had made it clear the last time she'd seen him. But Luke didn't know about that visit, and telling him would only make things worse. "Luke," she told him. "I'm a grown woman. I can take care of myself. I can handle Christopher."

"I don't like it," Luke said.

"I know, but this will mean a lot to Rory," Lorelai told him. "She hated it when her Dad and I weren't allowed to speak anymore. It hurt her, so much, you don't even know." That made Luke feel guilty.

"Fine," Luke said. "But if anything happens, I don't care if Rory needs a kidney, you and him are not speaking!" Lorelai wanted to tell him he was being outrageous, but he had already gone back to working on the boat. The obnoxious sound from the power drill signified to Lorelai that Luke had spoken his final word on the subject.

Lorelai left the garage and went to the stables. She went up to her horse Bowie, and brushed his mane. It was very soothing to her. She got nickers from Bono and Freddy, begging for the same attention. She went up to both of them and fed them carrots. She loved her horses. As long as she made them feel loved, they loved her. She and Luke had just had their first big fight as a married couple. They seemed to have cruised past it, but it was still startling to behold.

"I can't imagine talking to him about trying for another baby now," Lorelai said to Bono. He whinnied, as if in agreement. Lorelai loved horses; they were the sweetest creatures she knew.

* Super short one this time. I wanted the Parent's Weekend in it's own chapter. You've probably all noticed, I've been jumping through time a bit. I'm not doing week-by-week chapters anymore. This is just how I want it done. It will basically by monthly time line chapters for a while. I'm not sure yet. –DD *


	70. Chapter 70 The psychic strikes again

Chapter 70

"Hey beautiful," Lorelai heard from behind her. Lorelai had been standing next to the parent sign up table labeled G-I. She turned around and saw Christopher. He still had his short haircut and dressed like a laid-back office stiff.

"Hi," Lorelai said awkwardly.

"Uh oh," Christopher said. "I complemented a married woman, that's a big no-no!" he joked. "I feel a little bad about that, but I'm pretty sure the law that says you'd get arrested for being nice to another man's wife was from a few generations ago."

"It's fine, Chris," Lorelai told him.

"It's nice to hear your voice," Christopher told her. They had a surprisingly non-awkward hug. They were just two old friends saying hello. Luke would have a coronary, but Lorelai wasn't bothered by it.

"How's life been?" Christopher asked her.

"It's been great," Lorelai said. "We moved into a new house." 

"Rory told me," Chris said. "I hear it's huge, Emily and Richard paid for it?"

"Wedding gift," Lorelai explained.

"I heard rumor that there are horses at this big house," Chris said with a smile. He had memories of Lorelai trying to set horses free at a summer camp they had gone to.

"Yep, 3," Lorelai said.

"Two of them are names after musicians, is that right?" Chris asked.

"Yep, Bowie and Bono," Lorelai told him. "April named hers Freddy. She said she just simply liked the name. We like to think he's named after Freddie Mercury, but April's not a Queen fan. Actually, we know that's the name of a kid she has a crush on. But don't say anything."

"I doubt I ever will," Chris pointed out.

"Right," Lorelai realized.

"How's Lucas?" Chris asked.

"He's good, he's getting big," Lorelai replied. She pulled out her cell phone and showed Chris a photo of Lucas in a Jumperoo, smiling big.

"No teeth yet huh?" Chris said.

"They're coming," Lorelai told him.

"He's got your curls," Chris commented.

"Yep," Lorelai beamed. "He's got my eyes too. He looked more like Luke when he was born, but now he looks more like me."

"Minus the big head," Chris said. He laughed at Lorelai's scowl. "You were cute too," Chris complemented.

"Thanks," Lorelai said. "Now, come on," she said. "We are missing prime parenting opportunities." She led him back to the table, and they got signed in.

They wandered around the campus, trying to find interesting events to partake in, dodging A capella groups, talking on the phone with Rory. When they got to the dining hall, not only were they bombarded with parents impressed with their daughter, but they learned something shocking.

"It's one of your, 'little traditions,' to pretend to be Rory's parents?" Lorelai asked her mother. Lorelai was offended and creeped out at the same time.

"Well it's obviously not your kind of thing," Emily threw back at her.

"That's not true," Lorelai said.

"You've never come to any of them," Richard pointed out.

"I was waiting till Rory's senior year," Lorelai lied.

"Why didn't you say so?" Emily asked. "We could have planned to go together."

"No we wouldn't have done that because this event is for parents, which you are not. This is for me and Christopher." Lorelai told them.

"Christopher's here?" Emily asked.

"Yes, because he's a parent," Lorelai reminded them. "It's his weekend too."

"But," Emily said confused. "I thought you weren't speaking?"

"What made you think that?" Lorelai asked, avoiding the truth.

"Because you haven't mentioned him in months," Emily said. "Because, he almost ended your engagement."

"We moved past that," Lorelai told them. It was true on her part, not so much Luke's.

"Well, I hope you two have a wonderful time," Richard said, acting as mediator. "Would you like to join us for dinner with Rory?"

"We have lunch plans with her," Lorelai said hastily, trying to hold her ground as parent.

"Rory said she was busy all day which was why only dinner was available." Emily said.

"She already had plans with us for lunch when she said that," Christopher said, coming up behind Lorelai, to her rescue. He and Lorelai were old partners in crime when it came to battling The Gilmores.

"Hello, Christopher, it's nice to see you," Richard said in greeting. The two men shook hands; Emily gave Lorelai a disapproving look.

"Well, it was nice to see you," Lorelai lied. "But Christopher and I have to go pick up Rory for our lunch. See you." Lorelai and Christopher calmly tried to walk away. As soon as they were out of Emily and Richard's view, they ran for it. They hoped Rory would go along with their plan.

"We have come to take you to lunch at, Chez Zinjustin," Lorelai told her daughter when they found her in the newsroom.

"Wow, fancy," Rory commented. Rory introduced her parents to her staff. Christopher was unaware that these people weren't close friends with his daughter, so he invited them all to join them for lunch. Lorelai and Rory gave each other awkward looks, but the staffers were excited to go. On the way out of the room, Sheila came up behind Rory and asked her a question.

"Are your parents together?" she asked.

"No, my mom's married to someone else," Rory told her.

"Just checking," Sheila said, but then she added, "they seem awfully close." Rory smiled at that. She was glad that her parents were able to be friends again, at least for that day. It was definitely the best Parent's Weekend she'd ever experienced.

While Lorelai was away at Yale, Luke was at the pool having a swimming lesson with April's coach. When Susan Bennett had learned that Luke couldn't really swim, she'd insisted that he take her class. She said he needed to be certified if he ever took his daughter swimming.

Luke was doing okay in the class, but he was getting a lot of attention from Coach Bennett that he didn't necessarily welcome. He'd been pretty sure she'd seen his wedding ring when he'd arrived. At the end of the lesson, Luke definitely knew Coach Bennett had the hots for him. He wasn't looking forward to having to explain himself.

"I was thinking you could call me, and we could get a bite to eat," Bennett said as they were getting out of the pool.

"Uh Coach Bennett I don't think so," Luke said. Hadn't April ever mentioned around her coach that her dad had just gotten married?

"Please, call me Susan," Coach Bennett repeated from the other day.

"Yeah, uh, Susan," Luke corrected. "I don't know if April told you, but I'm married." Coach Bennett's face fell. Luke winced when her face turned to a glare. "I'm Sorry Su…"

"Don't worry about it," Coach Bennett said, tossing her wet hair, shaking off the angry look. "I should have realized."

"It's okay, I know I don't look like the married type," Luke started making things up so the woman wouldn't feel bad. Inside he was feeling terrible. Terrible about getting this woman's hopes up, and terrible for not trusting his wife. He hadn't done anything to encourage Susan Bennett, but he couldn't begrudge Lorelai the right to have male friends.

Luke left the swimming class, deciding not to return. Susan Bennett had claimed there were no hard feelings and she had nothing against April staying on the team. Luke thought it odd that the coach mentioned that, he didn't know why his turning her down could ethically threaten his daughter's position on the team. But, maybe the coach felt she had to say that. Luke didn't really think his swimming needed to be improved. If it really was a problem, he could take swimming lessons in Stars Hollow.

Lorelai got home to find Luke enjoying a ball game with Lucas on his lap. Lorelai sat down in an armchair near him and he asked about her day.

"It was decent," she said. "I still think I'm too cool to be one of those parents who goes to those weekends, but it's not like there will be any more of those for me for a while."

"Yeah," Luke said. The game reached a commercial, and he looked over at his wife. "I'm always going to feel weird around Christopher," he said, somewhat repeating himself from the year before. "But, as long as he doesn't come around that much, it won't drive me crazy if you guys are friends."

"Really?" she asked.

"Really," he replied.

"Good," Lorelai said. She got up and sat next to her men on the couch. "April's swimming coach flirted with you today didn't she?"

"How the hell could you possibly know that?" Luke asked incredulously, yet finding it completely hilarious.

"I swear, I'm psychic," Lorelai answered. "We need to get me my own T.V show."

"We'll get right on that," Luke joked. The two of them laughed, which caused Lucas to giggle. That made them laugh harder. They snuggled into each other and watched the T.V. Lorelai knew they wouldn't always get over things this quickly. But she was going to enjoy it while she could.


	71. Chapter 71 Christmas Surprises

Chapter 71

Luke and Lorelai lay in bed after just making love. They were celebrating their 6-month anniversary. They'd chosen not to have a party with their friends. They were saving that for their one-year anniversary. They hadn't talked about having more kids since the summer. Lorelai did still want to wait until Lucas was a one year old, but she had Rory's voice in her head reminding her how long it took women her age to get pregnant.

"Let's make a baby," Lorelai said.

"What?" Luke asked. He had been close to falling asleep.

"Let's make a baby," Lorelai repeated.

"Right now?" Luke asked.

"Uh, yeah, it's awfully convenient," Lorelai said, pointing out their near nudity.

"I thought you wanted to wait," Luke said.

"What's getting a two month head start going to do to us?" Lorelai asked.

"Well, I suppose we could," Luke said.

"You 'suppose'?" Lorelai judged his word choice. "Either you want to or you don't."

"I do want to," Luke said to her. He started to rearrange himself.

"Maybe we should wait," Lorelai said, indecisively. Luke stopped trying to get on top and rested his head on his hand. "Maybe I am rushing things it's only been 6 mo…" Lorelai was silenced by her husband's kiss. That night, they had their first attempt, at baby number 2. The knew the 4th child in their combined family would take more than a night to achieve, but they were determined.

By Christmas time, Lorelai had already taken one pregnancy test. Negative. She knew that this was a possibility. But it didn't stop her from being disappointed. Luke had faith that they'd be pregnant eventually; he wasn't going to give up. They went to the doctor for advice. She said that if the couple could handle the 50 percent chance of a baby with defects, she saw no reason why they shouldn't try. But she warned them that stressing about this too much could affect Lorelai's cycle and make getting pregnant harder. So Luke and Lorelai tried to keep their hopes of a baby as laidback as possible.

Since Luke had gotten April for Thanksgiving, Anna got her for Christmas. But Anna let Luke have a Christmas day with April on the 26th. It was the family's first Christmas in the new house. It was L.J's first Christmas of his life. At 10 months he didn't really understand what it was, but they involved him as fully as possible just the same.

They had their late Christmas with all 3 of their children. They sat around the Christmas tree opening presents one by one. Lucas needed help opening his gifts, but when his parents spoke to him about them, he at least new these new things appearing before his eyes were for him. Especially the toys.

"This one is from Mommy," Lorelai said showing him the gift. Lucas was sitting up, feeling the toy, investigating it. He looked up at Lorelai, bounced on his butt and said,

"Ma!"

Everyone went silent.

"Ma?" Lorelai repeated.

"Ma!" Lucas said again, more excited. He liked hearing his mom say the word back.

"Would you count that as his first word?" April asked.

"Not on less 'geg' is a real word," Lorelai said, quoting a repeating sound Lucas often made.

"Can you say 'Da?'" April asked.

"Da?" Lucas said, imitating his sister's inflection. L.J's family melted. Lucas saw their faces and repeated it. "Da?" Lorelai turned to Luke; he had a tear in his eye. Lorelai got a sappy smile on her face, and one arm hugged her husband.

"Our boy said his first words today," she said.

"And it wasn't a swear word," Luke said relieved.

"Good job, buddy," Rory said to her little brother. Reacting to the encouraging tone his sister had, Lucas began to talk more.

"Ma, geg geg, Da!"

"I have no idea what 'geg' means," Lorelai said. "But it's one of my favorite words now." The family laughed, and then went back to opening presents.

While the family was setting the table for their lunch, Lorelai went to the bathroom. It had been two weeks since she'd taken the last test.

After lunch, Rory drove to Philadelphia to see Jess. When she got to Truncheon Books, One of Jess's business partner's directed Rory up the stairs. When she got to Jess's room, she saw that he had set up a wine and cheese plate on a short table. Jess came out of the bathroom, and kissed her hello.

After they enjoyed their snack, one meaningful look at each other told them they were ready for the big step. A little while later, they lay in bed, satisfied and speechless. They'd only been dating 3 and half months when they did this, but in reality, they'd waited for years.

Back at Heaven (they'd finally chosen a name for the new house), Lorelai was showing her husband the pregnancy test they'd taken earlier. Negative, again.

"We'll keep trying," Luke told her. "It's only been a month."

Lorelai didn't care how long it had been, it was still too long. She teared up, and Luke gave her a tight, loving hug. Lorelai looked into the living room, and saw April playing with Lucas. She at least had something to smile about; her son had said his first words. That was something at least.


	72. Chapter 72 The Year

Chapter 72

February was getting close, which meant something exciting was heading Lorelai and Luke's way: their son's first birthday. Lorelai got crazy into party planning. She knew Lucas probably wouldn't remember much of it when he was older, but she wanted him to have the best party he could have. She also scheduled his first birthday photos. Not that they needed them professionally done. Lorelai had gotten quite experienced with the camera herself, photographing as much of her son's life as possible.

"Do you know how many memory cards you've gone through?" Luke asked her. Watching her snapping a photo of Lucas playing with his cheerios.

"It's worth it," Lorelai said. Lucas loved the camera. Lorelai had bought a photo printer so she could get the photos faster. She and April while she'd been there had been made a collage of the best photos, and had put it in L.J's room. April had been forced to move with her mother to New Mexico in January, but she was coming up for L.J's birthday.

Lorelai and Luke were flying high. Their son's first birthday was a big milestone. They knew that somehow, their son sort of knew that something big was coming. He seemed to be like his mother, all-knowing.

The morning of L.J's party, Lorelai decided to take a pregnancy test, just to see. The first one came out negative. She considered taking the other one, but then she mentally slapped herself. This day wasn't about her. It was about her son. She shouldn't be thinking about anything else. Her son was one year old. Lorelai smiled again at the thought. She went to her son who was in his playpen. She picked him up and gently spun him around. Now that he was older, he wasn't so scared by it. The mother and son giggled together.

2 hours before the party, Luke got back from picking up his daughter from the airport. Even though April had only been gone a month, she walked around the house, saying to her family that she felt like she'd been gone forever. She played with her brother while his parents were setting up the house. Emily and Richard arrived at the house half an hour early. Rory came soon after. Lorelai was changing Lucas when they came. Once Lucas was comfortable in his new diaper, Lorelai thought he was ready to show his grandparents his surprise for them all.

"Mom," Lorelai said. "Why don't you sit in that armchair." She pointed to the closest chair to the couch. Emily sat down, wondering why her daughter wanted this so much. Lorelai carried Lucas over to the couch, and sat down, 3 feet away from her mother. She held her son in a standing position, and whispered to him. "Want to show G'ma your new trick?" Lucas knew what to do when his feet were on the ground. Lorelai gently let go of him. Lucas put his hand on the couch for a moment, but then did his, 'trick.'

Emily stared in wonderment as her grandson slowly tottered toward her. He gripped the couch every now and then, but he was doing decently. Lorelai smiled at her mother, knowing her mother was so glad to be seeing this. Once Lucas had no more couch to hold on to, he got a little slower. But a smile from his grandmother gave him the encouragement he needed. He sped up a little, a smile on his face. Right in front of his grandmother, he lost his footing and fell forward. But he fell right into his grandmother's waiting arms.

"Good Job!" Lorelai exclaimed, clapping. The rest of the family watching clapped as well. Except Emily, who was too busy marveling at how big her grandson was.

"Happy Birthday, sweet Lucas," Emily said. Richard walked over to her chair, and kneeled down next to his wife and grandson. They marveled their grandson together. Lorelai smiled even more. She was glad her parents were getting to experience her son's whole life along with her. Lorelai couldn't have imagined wanting that back when she was a teenager, but she could imagine it now. She could see it.

The family had a pretty decent amount of guests at this shindig. They hadn't wanted too many, they didn't want to overload their son. But it was enough for Lucas to be smiling the entire time, or looking around in amazement. Both faces were adorable, especially when he now had some teeth.

Throughout the party, along with questions about Lucas, there was a particular question Lorelai and Luke were asked frequently. "Are you two planning to have another baby?"

"We're thinking about it," Luke said. He wasn't sure if it would be a good idea to tell their friends they were trying. They might judge Lorelai for taking so long to get pregnant. Luke knew Lorelai felt bad about not being able to get pregnant

When Lorelai was carrying some dishes into the kitchen, to give them more space at the dining room table when Luke cornered her.

"Let's go take another test," Luke said.

"Now?" Lorelai asked.

"Yeah," Luke said. "I don't know. I just have a good feeling."

"Won't the guests wonder where we've gone off to?" Lorelai asked.

"It only takes 3 minutes," Luke said, and then he took her hand and walked her to their private bathroom.

Luke and Lorelai stood over the used test on the bathroom counter. It hadn't even been a minute before April came up to their room to tell them Richard wanted to give a speech. Lorelai and Luke looked at each other. They wanted to know the result of the test, but they knew this was their son's day. They went down to the dining room where most of the guests were residing, watching Richard. He was standing next to his grandson, who was looking up at him with curiosity.

Richard talked about how much he'd seen Lucas affect everyone's lives. Luke put his arm around his wife's shoulder when Richard talked about how much the two of them had impressed him greatly that year. Richard then turned to his grandson to talk to him personally, but he sharply paused.

Richard's face looked pained and then contorted. He got hunched over, and grabbed his arm. The guests were stunned into silence. Richard started to fall sideways, putting his grandson's high chair at risk for being hit. Lorelai moved at the speed of light, pulling Lucas out of the chair and dashing back to a safe place. She then realized what was going on. Her father was having a heart attack.

Lorelai didn't know what to do. She had a father in desperate need of help, and a terrified son she needed to console. Lorelai was wobbly, her vision was blurring in panic. She felt someone's arms around her holding her up, probably Luke. Rory, Emily, and Jackson were bent over Richard. Lorelai was too frozen to move. She only snapped out of her sheerest of terrors when her mother got up in her face.

"Call. The. God Damn. Ambulance!" Her mother shouted at her seemingly struck dumb daughter. Lorelai saw someone out of the corner of her eye run into the kitchen. Lorelai turned and ran for the phone herself. Feeling as if her entire world had gone into slow motion.

Luke stood by her while she made the call. Lorelai was trembling the entire time. She stammered when telling the operator where to send the ambulance. When she hung up, she saw that most of the guests had left the dining room, leaving just her family there. The EMT's came in with the stretcher to take Richard. Emily took the only available seat in the ambulance. The rest of them needed to get themselves to the hospital.

"I don't want Lucas to see a hospital," Lorelai said.

"He won't," Luke said. "Miss Patty already offered to stay with him."

Luke helped the terrified Gilmore Girls get into Lorelai's Jeep. Luke drove, knowing the girls couldn't handle that at the present time. April chose to stay home with Miss Patty and Lucas. She planned to go to the hospital in the morning. For now, it was just immediate family that should be at the hospital. April ended up going to into her Dad and Stepmom's bathroom, to find Lucas's favorite bath toy. On her way out with the plastic boat, she saw the pregnancy test on the counter.

Positive.


	73. Chapter 73 Decisions

Chapter 73

Luke got a photo on his phone from April of the pregnancy test readout, followed by exclamation and question marks. Luke was happy about this news, but he knew this wouldn't be the best time to mention it to his wife. He knew how she'd react. She'd lighten up for a moment, and then it would hit her again that they were in a hospital and that her father could be dying. So Luke kept it to himself.

The family waited in the ER while Richard was having tests. They knew for sure that it was a myocardial infarction, which was a heart attack. A little while later Richard was moved to the CICU, his family followed.

"Mom, Dad just texted me asking how the party went," Rory said to her mother. Luke stiffened a bit, he'd only told Lorelai he didn't mind having Christopher around because he'd felt he had to.

"Don't answer it," Lorelai told her daughter.

"I can text him back after all of this is over," Rory said.

"Don't ever answer that text," Lorelai said. She knew if Chris found out about Richard he'd fly in here trying to help. As easy as their last encounter had been to handle, Lorelai didn't want another person in this mess.

When she'd been forced to stop speaking to Christopher, she'd been okay with it because she knew her life would be better off, and had merely been worried about it because she hadn't been sure how Christopher would react. Spending that day with him proved that they could still be friends, but it also told her that they really didn't need to be.

Other than the text from her father, Rory had been waiting for a text of call from Jess. He hadn't been at the party because he had a late running book signing to deal with at work. Rory figured he just hadn't had time to look at his phone. But it was only midnight. Jess wasn't the type to go to bed early.

The longer they were at the hospital the calmer they became. They had dealt with tragedies before. Emily was ranting up a storm. She was the least calm. Lorelai and Rory tried to relax; Luke went on a hunt and found them some snacks, which worked a little.

Richard's doctor finally was free to come see the family. They learned that Richard was 'conscious and cogent.' They learned that at the moment Richard was getting an angiogram.

"Where would be go?" Lorelai asked the doctor.

"Pardon?" the doctor asked.

"I mean, where would we go?" She wanted to know what was next. Luke put his arm around her shoulder for support.

"If the blockage is more serious," the doctor explained. "We will have to consider an emergency bypass surgery." The doctor walked away, leaving the family speechless.

After a while, the family was able to go see Richard.

"I'm sorry I gave you all a scare," Richard apologized. "Is Lucas alright?" he asked Lorelai.

"I think watching his grandpa fall down and not pop back up laughing was a little startling," Lorelai tried to joke. But her heart wasn't in it. She couldn't stand seeing her dad in the hospital. She couldn't handle it.

"Is April here too, Luke?" Richard asked Luke, who was standing in the doorway.

"She's at the house with one of our friends watching Lucas," Luke said.

"Well, I hope I didn't scare her either," Richard said, adjusting his head on the pillow. "Same goes for you," Richard said to his eldest grandchild. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"I think that question is better asked towards you, Grandpa," Rory said, bending down to lightly hug him.

"I'm fine," Richard said, blowing it off. "I'm sure the surgery will be fine."

Luke was the only one to see Lorelai's reaction to that; she'd turned away from her father so he wouldn't see how scared she was. She wasn't that close to her father, but she still loved him.

All the way in Philadelphia, Jess was standing in a corner of Truncheon to take a peak at his phone. He saw the text from Rory.

"Crap," he said. But he didn't dare send that in a text. Rory needed him. She needed a supporting shoulder. She probably also needed a guy who was good in a tense situation. Jess had never been the type girls ran to for that sort of thing.

He told his friends where he'd be going. They begged him to stay and help out, but he kindly refused.

"My girl needs me, okay?" he told the guys. And then he left.

Around the same time, in New York City, Paris and Doyle were walking around Times Square. They had seen a show earlier that night.

"Maybe the Wizard of Oz won't take over your dreams anymore," Doyle said to his girlfriend. He'd taken her to see Wicked in the hopes that seeing a slightly less cheesy and creepy representation of that story would make her less insufferable at night.

"Oh it will," Paris said. "I'm doomed for life."

"Did you at least enjoy the play?" Doyle half asked half begged. Now that Paris was fully focused and freaking out about her impending graduation, Doyle had been having trouble impressing her. Even in the bedroom.

"It was okay," Paris said. "Seeing the witches in different lights helped. Excluding Dorothy until the end behind a curtain really helped. Judy Garland was so obnoxiously gullible and naïve in the movie. And they made the ending go on for way longer than it should have.

"Remember, it was the 30's," Doyle said.

"You were there, you were there, you, and you, and you!" Paris mimicked. "And then she went on to explain how she was meant to be with her family or whatever." Doyle tried to shush her. "It could have ended like 4 minutes earlier!"

"Enough!" Doyle laughed. As the couple was walking arm and arm, someone bumped into Paris's shoulder.

"If you were looking to pickpocket me," she said to the person who she didn't look at. "You hit the wrong side."

"I had no intention of that, Paris," said the person. Paris and Doyle looked to see Logan. A few months ago he had moved back to the States.

"Did London kick you out?" Paris asked rudely. She had no reason to be nice to him. She felt she didn't anyway.

"My job moved me," he explained. He lip grinned politely. Paris was his least favorite friend of Rory's. He and Rory hadn't spoken since the break up in late August. "How's Rory doing?"

"I don't think that's any of your business," Paris said.

"Just a simple, 'she's fine,' will do," Logan said.

"Well if she was fine," Paris said. "Then I'd say that. But she's not."

"Really now?" Logan asked sarcastically. Was Paris looking for a reason to blame him?

"Yeah she's not fine," Paris said. "She's in the hospital with her sick grandfather, he had a heart attack." Logan's face fell. He knew Richard.

"What hospital?" Logan asked.

"I'm not telling you that!" Paris said defiantly. Doyle however, realized the concern and love Logan had on his face.

"John Skinner," Doyle told him.

"Thanks," Logan said. He headed back to his apartment, to call a car.

Logan had a shorter drive than Jess, even though Jess left sooner. Rory was getting a coffee out of a machine, when she heard his familiar voice. She turned towards the nurse's station and saw him.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him.

"Ran into your roommates in New York City," he explained. "They told me what happened and I came as soon as I could."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because I know how much Richard means to you."

"Why were you in New York?" Rory asked.

"I live there," he told her. "Moved there a couple months back. I was going to call you just so you knew, but I just never had time."

"Never got around to it," Rory corrected.

"You always knew me best," Logan said, smiling, hoping she'd forgive him.

"My boyfriend will be here soon," Rory said. "I appreciate the support, but you aren't needed here."

"I understand," Logan said. "It is pretty late."

"Yep," Rory said, looking down, avoiding his glance.

"You still have my number?" Logan asked.

"I think it's in my book still," Rory replied.

"Call me, if you need me," Logan said. He started to head out. "I'm going to find a hotel."

Rory watched him go. She hadn't seen him in months. It was really hard to see him.

When Jess finally got there, he wasn't in the hospital long before Rory ushered him out. They were to go to the Gilmore house to pick up some things for Richard. Jess didn't mind. He wasn't fond of hospitals. Lorelai stayed with her mother, she ended up calling home to see how her son was doing.

"He's fast asleep," Miss Patty said. She was in the kitchen doing dishes for them, to help out.

"How's April?" Lorelai asked.

"I think she's relaxing with a movie," Miss Patty said. Luke was sitting close to Lorelai, so he could hear the phone. He mouthed to Lorelai to tell Patty something.

"Make sure she goes to bed right after the movie is over," Lorelai said. April would be flying out the next night.

"I think she's already asleep," Patty said, peaking into the den.

"Good," Lorelai said, she gave her husband thumbs up and he relaxed a little.

Jess stood around while Rory gathered some things. He wasn't comfortable standing in the Gilmore mansion. The last time he'd been there it had been less than pleasant. He didn't generally like being in rich snob environments.

"Logan stopped by," Rory told him.

"At 2 in the morning?" Jess asked.

"He was in the neighborhood apparently," Rory said.

"When you're rich, crossing the Atlantic must be like hopping a creek," Jess said. Rory gave him a stern look. "Fast planes," Jess added.

"He lives in New York now," Rory told him.

"Since when?" Jess asked.

"A few months ago."

"And you're telling me now?" he asked.

"I just found out," Rory said.

"So you haven't been talking," Jess said.

"No," Rory said. "We haven't been anything."

"Okay," Jess said. "Did you send him back to New York?"

"He chose to take a hotel," Rory said.

"So I'm going to be forced to see that git?"

"He'll only come if I tell him to."

"Will you?"

"Of course not," Rory said. "I mean, I'd only call him if I needed him."

"Because he can offer you things I can't," Jess said

"Please don't pick a fight with me over this," Rory begged. "My grandfather is in the hospital!"

Rory and Jess left the house not speaking to each other.

Back at the hospital, Lorelai and Emily were having a fight of their own.

No!" Lorelai exclaimed. "What has to be dealt with is that Dad could be dying. What you're dealing with is phone calls and a checklist. You're not his secretary, Mom. You're his wife!"

"Yes, and what do you know about being a wife?" Emily asked her angrily, Lorelai scoffed at her. "You've been married for what, 8 months? That's nothing. Your father and I have been married for over 40 years. That's 480 months. For two-thirds of my life, I have been the wife of Richard Gilmore. I run his household. I plan his meals. I buy his clothes, I entertain his business associates." Emily continued to tell her daughter all the things she did for Richard.

Although Lorelai's marriage different than her mother's when it came to lifestyle and gender roles, Lorelai felt that she was nothing compared to her mom. Her mother was a model wife. Lorelai was still a rookie. She had a lot to learn still. She especially needed to learn to compromise. Not to accommodate like she had when her wedding had been postponed. And not to win every time like she had recently with Luke about Christopher.

Jess chose to go back to Philadelphia after he dropped Rory off at the hospital. He wasn't the super hero boyfriend type. And he didn't want to be there when Logan showed up in his pompous suit of armor. Rory watched him go. She figured they'd move past this. But she knew that seeing Logan tonight had brought back old feelings. Her triangle still partially existed.

A little while later Richard's doctor came out to tell the family, that the surgery had gone well. Emily went in to visit her husband first. A little while later Rory and Lorelai got their time with him, with Luke waiting in the hallway, updating Miss Patty on the phone to tell the kids. When the girls left Richard's room to let him sleep, Rory made a call.

"Hey, Ace," Logan said, walking towards her. Rory met him in the lobby of his hotel in the daylight hours. She walked with him to the dining room, and they had breakfast together. They chatted about how they'd been, and even shared a hug at the end of their meal. Rory left to drive to Philadelphia. She knew by now Jess had cooled off. But, she wasn't sure if that mattered. She decided that when she drove back to New Haven, that they'd either still be together, or she was going to end it. If she did still like both Jess and Logan, she knew there was a problem.

At a breakfast of their own, Luke finally showed Lorelai the photo. Now that her father was better, she was more herself. She was stunned when she saw the readout.

"The test I took before that one had been negative," she said. "That means that this one could be false positive."

"Well," Luke said. "We're in a hospital. Perfect place to find out."

* I've been giving you all a lot of Rory/Jess storyline lately (despite the fact that this is meant to be about L/L). I'm going to go back to focusing more on Luke and Lorelai in the next chapters. I just had a lot of R/J/L ideas for this one. –DD *


	74. Chapter 74 Moving On

Chapter 74

"No!" Lorelai yelled defiantly. She didn't care about the facts. She didn't want to give in.

"Lorelai, you have no choice," Luke pointed out.

"Do you know what this thing means to me?" his wife asked him desperately.

"I do, but it's not just me fighting you on this. It's a fact that's kicking your butt," Luke reasoned with her.

They were talking about Lorelai's Jeep. It had finally died.

Lorelai knew the facts. Gypsy the car guru had said her Jeep was done. Luke knew enough about cars to be credible as well. Richard had even looked at the car himself. His experience with his antique car was enough to side with them. Lorelai knew her jeep had coughed its last exhaust breath. But it was still very sad.

Lorelai and Luke were now two months along with their second child. They had decided to be very traditional with this one. They weren't even going to find out the gender. Lorelai was doing everything she could to make sure this baby came out extremely healthy. She wanted to combat her apparently old age any way possible. One of the things Luke was mandating was that his wife had a safe car. The Jeep wasn't in that category.

Down on Rory's end, she was currently single. She and Jess had gotten over the Logan appearance, but they ended up breaking up for another reason later on. Logan sent her emails every now and then that she politely responded to. But she didn't want to date him. She knew that she'd given him all the chances he deserved.

Richard was recovering nicely. He was still taking time off from work to recover, but he'd be returning soon. Slowly but surely, Emily had dropped the fish pushing. Richard had taken it upon himself after Lorelai helped them turn things around, to get himself healthy.

By April, Lorelai and Rory's old house had new tenants. They'd been living there since December. Their names, were Zach and Lane Van Gerbig. They had twin boys, Kwon and Steve, in Rory's old room. They loved having a house to rent that was so nice. Lane got a kick out of officially living in a house she'd called her second home most of her life.

In the months prior to their move in, the house had been empty, mostly. Around October, Lorelai had been called to the house late at night, after being alerted that there was a squatter living in there. That squatter was Kirk. Babette had heard some noise coming from the house for a few nights, and had finally called the cops. Lorelai came to her old house to find Kirk sitting in the back of a cop car, with only a towel on his bony body. He claimed to the cops that he had sleep walked into the house. The cops didn't know Kirk that well, so they didn't believe his story.

"You've 'sleep walked' into this residency 4 nights this week," the overweight cop said in accusation.

"Kirk is a sleep walker," Lorelai had told the cops, annoyed being pulled out of bed. "Ask anyone in town." Lorelai had chosen not to press charges. "Please," she'd said, rolling her eyes to concerned neighbors. "It's Kirk!" she pointed out.

Lorelai had quite a busy life. She was a wife, mother, inn owner, equestrian, and landlord. But as crazy and wound up as she used to get when she felt she was stretched too thin, Lorelai had Luke to help her out.

She knew that her Jeep did not have enough seats for her growing family, and it wasn't the smoothest ride. Lorelai, being the funny girl that she was, was a very hard person to car shop with. She kept finding silly things wrong with the cars they looked at. Lorelai ended up not getting a car that day.

Lorelai started using one of the Inn's cars until she could find one of her own. She ended up oddly enough, falling in love with the car she borrowed: an SUV. It was perfect. It was huge, but after Lorelai had taken her mom around when she'd been blind, Lorelai could handle a big car now. It had 5 seats. Technically they could never drive in this car with all of their children inside, once baby number 4 came. But Rory had her own car. And the eldest children only visited so often.

It was a sad day when Lorelai watched her dead Jeep being hauled away. But she knew it was for the best. She and Luke went to a different car dealership, and bought a blue Chevy SUV. Luke's truck was also a Chevy. They were officially a Chevy family.

Gypsy ended up finding another 1999 Jeep Wrangler for sale, and offered to bring Lorelai's Jeep back to life with the other Jeep's engine. But Lorelai had already said goodbye to her old car. She was moving on.


	75. Chapter 75 Promises, Promises

Chapter 75

"I got it!" Rory screamed into the phone.

"What?" Lorelai asked.

"The Reston fellowship, I got it!" Rory told her mother.

"Honey!" her mother exclaimed. "That's great!"

"I know! I'm so excited!"

Rory was doing well. She was graduating college with a job. Technically it was an internship, but it was at the New York Times. She couldn't imagine a better first job experience to have. Other than the Stamford Eagle Gazette. Rory was really excited to graduate. There seemed to be only one big problem standing in her way: She had 5 family members she wanted to invite, but only 4 tickets.

Lorelai was changing Lukas when she heard her husband come home.

"Luke!" she called out. She heard her husband coming up the stairs while she dodged her son's foot. Since he and his father had the same name, he would react when it was called. Being 3 months pregnant, Lorelai didn't particularly want her son kicking her stomach.

"What's up?" Luke said as he was walking towards her. He leaned up against the wall, waving to his son.

"I need to talk about Rory's graduation with you," she said.

"Okay, shoot," Luke said

"Well," Lorelai said awkwardly. "It turns out that students only get 4 tickets for the ceremony."

"Okay," Luke said. Lorelai looked at him uncertainly. Did he know where she was going with this?

"Well, obviously I'm going, with my parents there of course," Lorelai said.

"Yep, that's 3," Luke said.

"Can you guess who the 4th ticket is for?" Lorelai asked.

That was when Luke figured out what Lorelai was getting at.

"I won't be able to go, because Rory's Dad needs the ticket," Luke said.

"Yeah…" Lorelai responded guiltily. "I know you wanted to go."

"No," Luke said. "It's okay. As long as we don't cancel her graduation party I will be okay."

"Oh, don't you worry," Lorelai told him. "That party is happening, full steam ahead."

"Good," Luke said, smiling at his wife. She smiled back. He seemed okay with Lorelai being around Christopher again. He'd reneged previously about Lorelai and Christopher spending time together. He'd gone from being against it, to being reluctantly for it, to being against it again. Lorelai hadn't complained. All she'd needed was the day spent with Christopher at Parent's Weekend to know that she really didn't need him in her life.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Emily asked her daughter, as the two of them were headed with Richard to meet Christopher for the ceremony.

"I told you," Lorelai said. "Everything is fine on that front. This is the first time I've seen Christopher since the Parent's Weekend."

"He might try something," Emily said untrusting.

"He's had 6 months to 'try' something," Lorelai pointed out. "He's had almost a year technically. He's had plenty of time to attempt anything that could be remotely considered subterfuge." Emily looked unconvinced, which offended Lorelai. "You know it's really annoying that you can't trust me around my daughter's father."

"I trust you," Emily said. "Its…"

"Him," Lorelai finished for her mother. "I know. But honestly do you think I'd let Christopher get away with anything? He might be a creature of habit, but I've got powers of my own too."

"You honestly think he's over you?" Emily asked.

"Right now I honestly think…" Lorelai started to say something snarky about her mother but her father abruptly changed the subject.

"Actually Kissinger would be duller than Kundera with that foghorn voice and that accent. Of the two, I vote for the Fonz."

"Do you even know who the Fonz is?" Emily said judgmentally.

Lorelai knew full well that she could never be too careful with Christopher. But she honestly felt that it didn't matter what Christopher tried to do, it wouldn't work. She and Luke had gotten past their insecurities about staying together once they'd gotten married. Luke had been divorced once and had no desire to be again. He and Lorelai had taken their vows seriously.

"Hey Gilmores…and Danes" Christopher said when they got to him. Richard was friendly and shook Christopher's hand. Emily was standoffish. She had completely abandoned her He's-better-for-my-daughter-notion a long time ago. Lorelai greeted Christopher politely as well. But substituted a handshake for Chris's usual hug. She was trying her best to keep her promise she'd made to Luke. But she wasn't going to act like her mother.

They moved to find seats. On their way there, Chris gave her a weird look.

"A handshake?" he asked her as they sat down. "Since when did we become golf rivals?" 

"A handshake is the proper greeting for a married woman to another man," Emily said snippily. Christopher lightly winced. He gave Lorelai a look, as if to say, 'What's her problem?'

Lorelai chose to focus on the ceremony. Christopher often tried to get her to have a conversation with him, but she unintentionally had adopted Luke's language of monosyllables. Lorelai and Christopher both stood up to cheer Rory on. But, when Christopher turned to Lorelai to revel with her on their daughter's success, she didn't look at him back.

After the family took photos of Rory in her graduation gown, Christopher asked Lorelai to speak to him privately. Emily made a move to nonchalantly separate them, but Lorelai willingly went with her ex.

"What the hell is going on with you?" he asked her when they got to the sidewalk. Lorelai would have replied, 'What do you mean?' But she knew the jig was up.

"I'm keeping my promise to Luke," she told him honestly.

"What?" Christopher asked. "You mean that insane deal you made with him where you'd only 'talk to me' about Rory?"

"It's not insane," Lorelai said. "My family has reason to be concerned."

"Is that why Emily has been acting nuts towards me? Why she tried to act as your bodyguard just now?"

"Basically, yes," Lorelai responded.

"God, I honestly thought we were past this," Christopher said in disbelief.

"Chris," Lorelai said. "When it comes to the sensitivity of this situation, there's no going past it. It's permanent."

"You can't be serious?" Christopher said. "What do you guys think I am? A ticking time bomb? You think I can't be 'trusted'? That's bogus!"

"If you ever honestly looked at yourself," Lorelai said. "You'd understand."

"You people give me absolutely no credit," Christopher said, insulted. "Can't you believe I've changed?"

"I do," Lorelai said.

"What?" Chris asked. "Then why are you doing this? Aw Jeeze! You're whipped!"

"I am not whipped!" Lorelai argued. "I am trying to keep peace with as many people as possible. Currently it's my parents, my husband, and my town, verses you."

"Do what's best for the many, not for the one," Chris said, most likely quoting a really bad movie.

"Chris…" Lorelai said. But she had nothing to add. She felt bad about hurting him, but she was hurting far more people if she didn't. She hated this. "I don't want it to be like this. But as long as your past serves as a predictor of future events, you can't be fully trusted." Christopher wasn't looking at her any more. Lorelai looked towards her family, they were all watching. She knew they could tell where the chat had gotten.

"I can't just walk back over there," Chris said. "And pretend that I'm not the most hated guy in that group."

"Your daughter doesn't hate you," Lorelai reminded him. "And technically neither do I."

"I know," Chris said. "I'm supposed to go find a 'new best friend.'" Chris couldn't look in the Gilmores' direction. "I need to go."

"Don't you dare!" Rory said. She had started walking towards her parents. "This is my day, dad. It's not about you. It's not about mom. It's about me. Don't you dare run off and act stupid!"

"Rory!" Chris said; he was always shocked when his daughter yelled at him. One thing he never learned: feeling bad about himself never got him points.

"You know what, Dad?" Rory said. "Never mind, go. I've obviously outgrown you. Mom definitely has." And then Rory stormed back to her grandparents. Lorelai gave Chris one last look and then left to join her family. At least she knew that time how Christopher looked after what she now knew, was her last time being his friend.

* Despite the fact that Chris really had no tricks up his sleeves, his existence in Lorelai's life was unfair to Luke and too risky. I wrote this to appease some Christopher haters (or dislikers, for those of less intense feelings). From what I know of Lorelai, cutting Chris out of her life wouldn't be a clean cut. It would be dramatic and re-occurring. I hope I did them justice. –DD *


	76. Chapter 76 Protagonist

Chapter 76

Next up, Rory's graduation party. They'd be having it in the square. Technically Lorelai and Luke finally had the space to have it at their house. But, when the town had ganged up on Lorelai about not being able to go to Rory's graduation, one of the things they'd requested for the reenactment was the high school band to perform. Lorelai wasn't about to subject her horses or her dog to obnoxiously loud instruments playing, Pomp and Circumstance.

Rory hadn't heard from her father after the short fight they'd had. Rory had calmed down, but she wasn't quite ready to contact him yet. He hadn't known about the party, so she didn't expect him to show up. He probably wouldn't dare, especially not now.

"I won't lie to you," Lorelai said to your daughter. "It wasn't just my promise to Luke that made me not want your dad around."

"I know mom," Rory said, really not wanting to talk about it. "You and Dad can't be around each other. You have too much history. Dad has claimed over and over again that he wouldn't dare do anything to mess things up now, but he has also admitted a lot that he did technically still love you."

"Yes, but Rory," Lorelai said. "Just because he and I can't be in each other's lives, doesn't mean that's how you and he have to be."

"Don't you think I know that?" Rory asked her mother. "I don't want to have problems with my dad. But like Luke, I think it's stupid that dad can't just be well behaved and proper around you."

"'Proper'?" Lorelai quoted. "Rory, I'm far from proper."

"You know what I mean," Rory said. "You had no problem just being polite, shaking his hand, and just having light conversation. Why can't dad do that?"

"Because for most of our lives, your dad and I were the opposite of that," Lorelai said. "And who wants to be that stiff with someone they've known their whole lives?" Rory gave her a look that said her mom wasn't getting her point. "You are right, your dad still has feelings for me, and he does have a history of screwing things up. But, you can't hate him for being himself. And, you have to give him room to grow."

"Uh, Mom?" Rory asked. "You do realize you said two contradicting things."

"Honey, I am a contradiction." Lorelai joked. She then turned on her C.D player, and started singing 'Bitch' by Meredith Brooks, making her daughter laugh harder than she had in a long time.

"You are so singing that at the party!" Rory said, making her mom laugh that time.

The party was a hit, as most Stars Hollow shindigs were. Lorelai did end up singing for the guests, but got giggly and embarrassed halfway through and ended up running into the crowd screaming hilariously to make everyone laugh. She recovered eventually, and did a speech. Richard ended up doing a speech as well.

"Don't worry, folks," Richard said on his way to the podium. "I won't have a heart attack this time." Once he got t the stairs, he pretended to fall fatally, but then he jumped up quickly, smiling.

"Pretty spry for an old guy," Lorelai said, impressed by her 64 year old father.

The party showed no signs of winding down. Rory was all over the place; she had a lot of guests to spend time with. She ended up getting side tracked by one thing: her father.

"What are you doing here?" she asked her father. They were talking near the high school.

"I heard about your party through your grandpa," Christopher said. Rory looked over towards her family: Emily pissed, Luke untrusting, Lorelai worried, and Richard, was sturdy. He was the most open-minded one in the group. "Don't be mad at him," Christopher added.

"Oh I can assure you, it's not him I'm mad at," Rory said. Twitching slightly at the preposition use.

"Sweetie," Christopher said, reaching for his daughter's shoulder. She brushed his hand away. "Rory," he said. "Don't be mad at me for my history with your mother. Be mad at me for my history with you."

"Did you miss the part where I'm plenty focused on that?" Rory asked him rudely, imitating a tone her mother used often with Chris.

"Your mom and I will never be able to be friends and…" Christopher started to say.

"I thought this was about me?" Rory asked.

"Rory…" Chris begged.

"I'm tired of saying this," she told him. "You can't claim you will leave mom be, and then say you are still in love with her. You need to move on. Find someone else to love. You always act like it's only outside forces keeping you and mom apart. But it's not. It's the fact that you two aren't meant to be."

"You think I don't know that?" Christopher asked. "I think you're mom giving up on me all those times, and then finally tying the knot made that quite clear."

"Then why won't you accept it?" Rory asked.

"I have!" Chris told her. "Its you who hasn't accepted it."

"What?" Rory asked, borrowing her mother's 'are you serious?' tone. "I love Luke, I love that he and mom are together."

"I'm not talking about that." Chris said. "You might know better than anyone that your mom and I aren't meant to be, but as our child you feel everything. Whenever things blew up between your mom and I, it hurt you the most. Whenever I screwed things up in your mom's life, I screwed up your life. This isn't about your mom, it's about you."

Although Rory knew that full well, it was still a shock to hear her dad say it.

"You're right," he continued. "I need to get over your mom, but staying away from her won't do it."

"You can't come back into her life," Rory said. "It's too late."

"I'm not talking about that," Christopher said. "I'm getting a therapist." Rory stepped back, shocked.

"Seriously?" Rory asked.

"About time, right?" Christopher asked.

"Wow, dad," Rory said, temporarily impressed. But, she then went back to her previous tone with conviction. "If you don't stick to this and get better, I really don't foresee us ever working out as father and daughter."

"I know," Christopher said in full agreement. There was no, 'woe is me' in his tone, for once. Christopher looked over at the party. He saw the family, their differing emotions now replaced with the same one: uncertainty. "You better get back to your party."

"Yep," Rory said. She looked back and saw the confusion on her family's faces. She gave them a tight-lipped smile. They all loosened up their shoulders. It was almost amusing if Rory hadn't just had a serious moment with her dad. Then again, maybe it was.

"See you around kiddo," Christopher said. They gave each other meaningful looks, they weren't ready to hug yet, and then Christopher left.

"You okay?" Lorelai asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Rory replied. She looked at her stepdad, and told him about Christopher's plan to get better.

"Sounds good," Luke responded. The family then dispersed into the party.

* Yeah…after I wrote the last chapter, I just couldn't leave it there. Chris and Lorelai might be over, but Rory and Chris aren't. Thank you for reading. –DD *


	77. Chapter 77 The Year Part 2

Chapter 77

"You really don't want to know if it's a boy or a girl?" Rory asked her mother when they were getting ready. Today was Luke and Lorelai's one-year anniversary party.

"I told you," Lorelai said. "We want to be surprised."

"Well, you might want to wait," Rory said. "But I don't. Can I call your doctor?"

"Ha ha ha, no!" Lorelai laughed. "You will wait just like everyone else."

"Mean…"

Before the guests arrived, Luke coaxed his wife out into the yard. He had a special anniversary gift for her. It was a swing for one of the elm trees in their yard. Because Lorelai was 4 months pregnant, she couldn't swing to fast or roughly, but she could gently glide. Emily and Richard arrived to find Luke pushing his wife carefully on the swing. They were being very loving.

Lorelai and Luke walked out onto their deck to thunderous applause from their family and friends surrounding them. They kissed for the crowd, and then the party began. People were everywhere. They were all over the lawn. Filling the deck furniture to its highest capacity. Some people were even in the pool. It was surprisingly warm enough. Some people were chatting in the stables, admiring the horses. The house was even full of people. It was basically a full house, a full property.

Lorelai wasn't showing too much, but she got her belly patted by many people. She was used to it by now. She didn't cringe from it.

"I've been calling him Monty in my head," she told her friends.

"Him?" Emily focused on her daughter's pronoun use.

"Ugh…it!" Lorelai corrected herself. She'd been calling it a he because it was just easier.

"Are you hoping for a boy?" Miss Patty asked Lorelai inquisitively.

"I'm hoping for a healthy one," Lorelai said honestly. She was 39; her baby being born without too many problems was all she could ask for.

"I like the name Monty," Luke said. "But doesn't that mean his full name would be Montgomery or something?"

"Montgomery Danes," Lorelai tried out. "Sounds cool, but there's going to be someone on the playground who makes fun of him for it."

"What if it's a girl?" Rory asked. Lorelai shrugged in response. She had no idea what her name choices were. She'd been calling the unknown gender baby Monty for fun. She hadn't been that serious.

"I think if it's a boy, I might want him to have my last name," Lorelai said. Her husband raised his eyebrow at her. "My old last name," she corrected.

"Montgomery Gilmore?" Gypsy said. "You might as well home school him." They all laughed.

"What's wrong with my last name?" Luke asked, out of curiosity not insult.

"Well, I'd like to be able to carry on the Gilmore name," Lorelai said. She then got a raised eyebrow from her daughter. "Carry it on with a boy who wouldn't change his name when he got married," Lorelai felt that went without saying.

"Who says I wouldn't keep my maiden name?" Rory asked. "I like it." Rory was still single. Logan had tried to get her back in May, by proposing to her. He'd claimed that their time apart had given him time to think about this, and that marriage seemed right. Rory had declined; she had no desire to be married yet.

"Well, it was just a thought," Lorelai said. "It doesn't have to go that way."

"I honestly think that picking names would be a hec of a lot easier if you found out the sex," Rory said.

"Yes, but we aren't doing it that way," Luke said, his wife nodding in agreement. "We want to be surprised. And I, want to be the one to deliver it."

"Wait, what?" Lorelai said startled. "Are you serious? No!"

"What?" Luke said in disbelief. "Why not? I watched Liz deliver her daughter at home, I know how it works."

"Well, I've watched someone perform surgery on T.V, but that doesn't mean I know how to be a surgeon," Lorelai pointed out.

"I've been reading up on it too," Luke said. "I'm going to start training with a midwife."

"Again, are you serious?" Lorelai asked.

"Come on, sweetie," Luke said. "This is our last baby, let's go all out with it."

"Luke, it's too risky," Lorelai argued. "We should do it in the hospital with professionals."

"There's nothing wrong with a home birth," Sookie said. "Mine came out fine."

"You weren't nearly 40!" Lorelai blurted out. She'd avoided talking about her baby's health with anyone other than her doctor and Luke. When she realized what she'd done, she left the group, claiming she was checking on her son. She got to the pool to see, he was fine. April was pulling him around in his baby spring float. Lorelai dropped her dress; she had a swimsuit on underneath. She got into the pool and decided to put all of her attention into Lucas. Playing with him calmed her.

After the party was over, Lorelai stayed out on the patio, watching the clouds in the dark sky. Luke came out and worked at the fire pit. The night was colder than the day.

"Lorelai, are you okay?" Luke asked her.

"We shouldn't have been talking about the baby like that in front of the guests," she told him.

"I didn't think the home birth thing would bother you so much," Luke apologized.

"It's not that," Lorelai said. "Not really any way."

"Then, what is it?" Luke asked.

"You know what it is Luke," Lorelai told him. "It's my age. Because I'm so old our baby is likely to be born sick."

"Old? You aren't old," Luke tried to convince his wife. "You're younger than me," Luke joked. Luke was almost 43. His wife chuckled, but Luke knew that she wanted him to take what she was saying seriously. "However this baby comes out, we will handle it. I know we can do it."

"Do you still want to deliver him yourself?" Lorelai asked. "I mean, it,"

"Yeah, I do," Luke said. "And you can call it 'he' if you want. I won't flip out on you like your mother did." Then he finally got his wife to laugh. They cuddled and watched some stars peaking out from behind the clouds.

"Star Marie Danes," Luke said. Lorelai turned her face to look at him, grimacing. "Hey, just floating it," Luke told her. Lorelai gave him a sweet smile, and then they went back to looking at the sky.


	78. Chapter 78 Horses and Babies

Chapter 78

"It looks fine," Lorelai's doctor told them as she was running the ultrasound.

"You can't see anything weird?" Lorelai asked, trying to read the amorphous image of her youngest child. "No extra limbs? No deformities? No sickness?"

"I'd need further tests to figure that out," the doctor told them. "The only thing I'm able to see is that h…it's head is a little large."

"Is that bad?" Luke asked. "Would we need to go the c-section route again?"

"No, she could still deliver vaginally," the doctor said. Lorelai had gotten a different doctor for this pregnancy, a woman who wasn't anti vaginal birth. "But after it's born it would be a good idea to do a cat scan."

"What would you find?" Lorelai asked.

"Hydrocephalus. Water on the brain," the doctor told her.

Lorelai and Luke looked at each other; there could be something wrong. The doctor broke them out of the couple's terrified staring contest.

"Are you sure you don't want to know the sex?" she asked. "At 6 months I think the image is quite obvious."

"We can never read that thing," Luke said, speaking to the doctor, but still looking at his wife.

"Alright then," the doctor said. "You're only having one, in case you didn't know that."

"We figured that one out," Lorelai chuckled awkwardly.

Parties were common at the Danes household. Rory's 10-week internship seemed like a lifetime to her mother, but flew by fast for Rory. She came back to Stars Hollow after working for the New York Times for 2 and half months. She was still waiting to hear if she had a permanent job with them, so she wasn't sure how much she wanted to be at a party, but she knew it was important to her mother.

"Quite a small gathering for a girl who worked at the New York Times," Rory said, alerting her family to see she was home. Lorelai cheered and walked as quickly as she could up to her daughter to give her a hug.

"Welcome home, Maureen Dowd," April joked. She had just gotten to Stars Hollow after spending her summer at science camp, so this gathering was for her too.

"I'm not nearly as skilled as her," Rory said. She gave Luke a hug and waved at April. They weren't particularly close. They were both really intelligent girls, but their interests strongly differed. "How was camp?" she asked her stepsister.

"It was great!" April said, and then she went fully into describing her time there. By the look on Lorelai's face, she could tell that her mother and stepdad had already heard a lot of this. While April went on and on about the wonderful experience she had, Rory slowly made it to the kitchen with her mother. Lorelai hadn't told her the recent baby news.

"Your doctor is sure that there could be a problem with the baby's head?" Rory asked. "Couldn't it just be naturally big? You said your head was large too."

"It could be," Lorelai said. "And gee, thanks for rubbing that in my apparently huge face."

"Are you guys going to do the amnio this time?" Rory asked.

"You know Luke's opinion on that thing," Lorelai said.

"Right," Rory remembered.

The Danes-Gilmore-Nardini family had a nice dinner together from the grill. Rory spent some time with her little brother, who now could not only walk but could almost say his sisters' names. "Woewee" and "Apull."

Before it got too dark, April invited Rory to go horseback riding with her.

"Since you've been gone and Lorelai has been pregnant, Bono and Bowie don't get enough exercise," she told Rory. "My friends stop by every now and then to help Lorelai with the horses, but I'm sure Bono misses you."

"Oh, I'm sure," Rory joked. She took April up on the horseback riding. They took Bono and Freddy out into the field and Rory attempted to bond with her stepsister. While they were out, Lorelai and Luke stayed in the stables with Bowie. Lorelai couldn't ride him, but she could make him feel special.

"We can handle this Lorelai," Luke told her again.

"I know we can," Lorelai said, braiding Bowie's mane. "The question is, can the baby handle it."

"I'm sure if he or she is anything like it's mommy, it will be able to get through it," Luke assured his wife. She smiled at him, and then rested her head against her horse's neck. Bowie, her most caring horse, turned his head towards her, and nudged her shoulder with his nose. To Lorelai, that was he telling her everything would be all right.

* Super short chapter again, don't know how I keep doing that. Just so you know, not just this story, but for future reference, I am against L/L twins. I know Lorelai had a dream about them, and it's cool to have L/L have twins in fan fiction because of that, but I am against it. I think it's over done, and too perfect. So, you will most likely never see me write stories about Luke and Lorelai having twins. If twins ever crop up in my stories, someone else will be having them. –DD *


	79. Chapter 79 Baby's coming!

Chapter 79

"Luke!" Lorelai screamed frantically. "Where's the doctor?"

"She's a midwife," Luke corrected.

"I don't care what she's called!" Lorelai yelled in pain. "Where the hell is she?"

"I called her, she's on her way," Luke tried to calmly tell his wife. But that was kind of difficult, because Lorelai was about to give birth. "She said to start without her."

"We can't do that!" Lorelai bellowed. "We need a professional here!"

"Yes, Luke," Emily agreed with her daughter, sitting next to her daughter on the bed, trying to get her to breath. "We need to go to a hospital."

"I can handle it!" Luke yelled. He went to the foot of the bed and examined his wife, she was crowning. "Sweetie, we have to do this now."

"You promised me if it was early we'd go to a hospital!" Lorelai yelled.

"It's only a day early," Luke told her. "It will be okay."

Lorelai's doctor had said that she felt the baby's large head could just be large, and not a sign that the baby had a problem. But Lorelai was far too paranoid about her age to be that positive. She and Luke had made a deal, that if the baby came early like Lucas had, that they'd do the birth at a hospital. But if the baby came on time, Luke could deliver the baby himself with a midwife present. It didn't end up working out that way.

Rory stormed into the house and ran up the stairs when she heard her mother screaming. April was standing outside the room, her face white from terror.

"I can't go in there!" April frantically told her stepsister. "I don't want to see that stuff!"

"It's okay, April," Rory told her. "Where's Lucas?"

"In his playpen downstairs," April said. They then heard Lucas crying, he could here his mother screaming as well.

"Okay, you bundle him up and take him outside," Rory said.

"Outside?" April questioned. It was November.

"Take him on a stroll, get him away from the noise," Rory said. April darted down the stairs; taking care of her brother would be easier. Rory tensed herself, took a deep breath, and then finally went into her mother's room. She came in to find Lorelai pushing, Luke sitting at the foot of the bed like a catcher, and Emily yelling into her cell phone, telling whatever new maid she had to get Richard out of his study and to the house.

"Mom! I'm here!" Rory said, dashing to her mother's side.

"That's…super…hun!" Lorelai said through her pain.

"Just keep pushing sweetie," Luke said. He took a brief moment to glance up at his wife and then looked back down. He had a serious job to do. Rory held her mother's hand, feeling by the strength of her mother's hold, how much pain her mother must be in. Emily was finally off the phone, and trying to be supportive on Lorelai's other side.

Outside, April was walking at her brother's speed, holding onto his hand. She looked up at the master bedroom's window; she could still hear some of what was happening in there. Lucas was slightly distracted by his surroundings to not notice so much what he could hear inside. But April had a feeling he was a little scared. She picked him up and walked farther away from the house. She didn't want to be able to hear the noise either.

"Its shoulder's are out!" Luke told his wife. "The head was the hard part."

"No crap!" Lorelai managed to be sarcastic; despite the pain she was feeling.

"It should be a little easier to slide it out now," Luke told her, remembering it from his training.

"How…much…more?" Lorelai asked, trying to breath.

"Its hips are almost out!" Luke said, getting very excited, no longer keeping his calm tone. He'd lost the ability. "Knees!" Luke yelled. This was a time where his monosyllabic speak was appreciated. "And…!" Luke yelled in suspense. "HE is out!"

"He?" Lorelai asked.

"Yep," Luke said, suctioning the baby boy. They heard him cry, he could breath. "We've got another son," Luke said. He held their little boy up to where Lorelai could see him.

"He looks like Rory did," Lorelai said. "Bald."

"Hey!" Rory said, in mock insult. Lorelai was in a state of for lack of a better term, loopiness. Emily was the one to say what Lorelai would have.

"Now we need to get to a hospital," she said. "You need to have him checked out, now."

The entire family sat in the hospital waiting room, including Luke. Lorelai was with the baby; they were doing tests to make sure the baby was fine. They'd only allowed one parent to be with little boy-no name. Luke had let Lorelai go, since she'd been the most terrified about the baby's health.

A nurse came out later, to tell the family how the baby was doing. The baby's scores on the tests were decent, but they wanted to keep him overnight, to make sure nothing new popped up. What the family wanted to know most of all was the result of the CT scan, which would tell them if the baby did have hydrocephalus.

"He doesn't," the nurse said. "You'll be interested to know, that his abnormal head size, is the result of a very large brain."

"What, is he going to be a genius or something?" Luke asked.

"Only time will tell you that," the nurse said. "Would you all like to see him?"

"Yes," the family said in unison. The nurse led them to the maternity ward, where they found Lorelai in one of the patient rooms, holding her son. The hospital was keeping Lorelai over night as well, as per Emily calling ahead and demanding it.

"Hey Daddy," Lorelai said to Luke, once he made his way over to her.

"The CT showed his head is fine?" Luke asked her.

"Yep," Lorelai said. "Turns out, I just gave birth to another trouble maker. Scaring me for no reason."

"You must be lucky," Luke told her.

"Maybe," Lorelai said. "But I don't think I'm going to tempt fate again."

"What do you mean?" Luke asked.

"Luke," Lorelai said. "This is our last one. No more."

"I can abide by that," Luke said. "What are we going to name him?"

"Big Head?" Lorelai joked. The family laughed. Lorelai motioned for Rory to bring Lucas over to her. April came up as well. Lorelai spoke specially to Lucas. "See this little guy here?" she asked him. "This is your little brother."

"Bruh?" Lucas asked, trying to say the word.

"Sure," Lorelai laughed. She knew her eldest son still had no idea what was going on, but he at least didn't seem jealous. Not yet anyway.

* I have never pretended to be a fountain of baby info. Whenever I have to write anything baby related, I Google the info. I have never had any kids, so I'm not a guru. I understand that one of my reviewers is under the impression that I think higher of myself when it comes to babies. I can assure you I don't. As for the hydrocephalus possibility, that's technically from personal experience. I was almost born with it. I apologize if I came out sounding pompous whenever I write about babies. I'm doing my best with what baby websites provide. Thank you for reading, don't worry I'm not offended. –DD *


	80. Chapter 80 Danes Family: The later years

Chapter 80

Benjamin Matthew Gilmore-Danes, aka Benji, was 7 pounds 1 ounce. Lorelai and Luke had trouble agreeing on name combinations, so they ended up giving their son both of their last names. The overnight period they had at the hospital showed nothing else to worry about. But that didn't weaken the Danes Family's decision to not have any more children.

By the time Benji was 6 months old, he had a very small amount of hair, brown like Rory's. He mostly looked like a mix of his parents, with some Rory-isms. One face in particular that he often made, screamed Lorelai.

"Look at this?" Luke said to Emily and Richard one Friday night dinner. He showed them a photo of Benji leaning forward in his high chair, his mouth wide open, posing for the camera. "Who does he look like?" Before the grandparents could answer, Lorelai rolled her eyes and showed her parents a photo on her cell phone, of herself making the exact same face. The family laughed and Luke and Lorelai shared a loving kiss. Their family seemed complete. Almost.

By accident, Lorelai managed to get pregnant again, when Benji was 7 months old. Luke had been putting off getting a vasectomy because he in all honesty hadn't been looking forward to the experience. Lorelai had avoided getting her tubes tied because she didn't like the idea of being cut open again. And there was no way she was getting a hysterectomy. Early menopause was not for her. Emily of course accused them of being negligent and irresponsible, but the couple was too surprised by the impossible to get too upset about it. Lorelai was 40 by then. She was sure God, or whoever controlled things, must have a soft spot for her.

Margaret Jane Danes was born right before Lorelai turned 41. She was a c-section like Lucas, and this time Lorelai did have her tubes tied while she was open on the table. But when the family had gathered in the hospital room for the 3rd time, Lorelai still laughed at her husband, and told him he was getting fixed.

"Not taking any chances," she told him. Luke decided to humor her.

The birth of their 3rd child made it quite clear that Lucas wasn't the jealous type, but they later found out Benji was. Benji wasn't always nice to Margaret (generally referred to as Maggie), but she had her big brother Lucas to protect her. While Benji had gotten a sometimes volatile nature that his father had, Lucas had inherited Luke's protectiveness. Maggie was all her mother. She was Lorelai's clone, except for one little quirk: differently colored eyes. Maggie had been born with one blue and one that depending on the light was on the browner side of hazel. It was one of Lorelai's favorite things about her youngest child. Luke's favorite was her curly raven hair.

Despite being in their 60's when most of their grandchildren were born, Emily and Richard lived until their late 80's. They were able to go to L.J's high school graduation. Richard unfortunately didn't make it to Benji's graduation, but Emily did. Emily even lived long enough to see Maggie graduate, one of the good things about the children being close in age.

Because of his name, Lucas had been telling his parents his entire life that he would one day own the diner. When they'd ask him about the Inn, he'd always say that Benji and Maggie could share. But he often said that Maggie should own it, since it was their mother's. Benji often didn't like hearing his brother say that.

Luke had a dream for his youngest daughter that she'd grow up to be a doctor. He didn't know why he had that dream, other than the fact that it was somewhat inspired by his daughter's initials: MD. But much like Lorelai, Maggie had a mind of her own. No one would tell her who to be or how to be it. Maggie was similar to Lorelai as a teen, except for the level of which she acted out. She wasn't nearly as wild as her mother had been, mostly because she hadn't been raised in a strangling environment like Lorelai had.

Gifts that Maggie seemed to have inherited from her mother were her sense of humor and voice. Maggie got very into musical theater in her teen years, she and her technically niece would often perform for the family.

Rory didn't get the job at the New York Times after the internship was over. As crushing as it was, she figured it was for the best. Before her second brother had been born, she'd gotten a job at the Hartford Courant (recommended by Doyle). She'd planned it to just be a temporary job, but she kept it for many years. She had a daughter with a guy she dated at the newspaper, named Christiane after her favorite journalist. Her younger siblings always thought it was funny that they had a niece barely younger than them. Rory didn't marry her daughter's father. She never went back to Logan or Jess, or Dean either. She married someone from New Jersey that she met while working a mob story. She and her husband chose to not have any more children.

April ended up going to college in Illinois. She felt it was a decent middle distance between her mom and dad. She went into biology. She never had her shot with Freddy, her beloved crush in 7th grade. But she found love eventually.

Anna had one more child around the time that Lorelai was pregnant with Maggie. Anna had a boy. April felt very blessed to have the chance to have so many siblings.

Christopher had kept his word, and not become a nuisance again. He and Lorelai generally saw each other at birthdays for Rory or Christiane. They'd walked down the aisle together at Rory's wedding, which had been slightly awkward, but they'd managed. Christopher never remarried, and G.G was his last child. But it worked for him.

Lorelai and Luke's life wasn't always perfect. They ran into many bumps in the road. But being who they are, they always stood by each other. The day of Maggie's high school graduation party, Luke had a surprise for Lorelai. While everyone was partying and having fun, Luke pulled Lorelai over to the swing he'd gotten just for her all those years back, and showed her something. It was the horoscope. It was very old and fraying at the edges, but still in Luke's wallet. He gave his wife a meaningful look, and they watched from under the tree at their family and friends.

Lorelai thought back to the day she'd met Luke. From what she remembered of that day so long ago, she knew she never would have suspected the man she'd met that day, the keeper of the blessed coffee, would be with her forever. Lorelai thought about the nearly 30 years she'd known Luke.

Did she regret anything?

Negative.

Was she sure?

Positive.

* My ending was kind of cheesy ('kind of' being the operative term), but I wanted to give my story a sweet send off. I honestly didn't know this morning that I'd be finishing the story. I knew the day was coming, but now that it's here I'm almost sad. Obviously I could continue the story, I could write out their entire lives if I wanted. But I feel that some things should be a mystery. I am so glad to know my story has generally been liked. The praise I've gotten from readers is what has kept me going. I'm so thankful for my readers. I don't know if I'll be writing another story soon, I might take a break. But I'm pretty sure, my time on this website is far from over. I think? Not sure. Only time will tell (aren't you getting tired of me saying that? Ha Ha). –DD *


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